


Over My Dead Body!

by VinVictory



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bullying, Coming Out, Death Scene, F/M, Gay Keith, Keith is a poor noddle insert sad face, Keith is the only one that could hear Lance, M/M, Mention of Suicide and Depression, Misgendering, OC characters, Panic Attack, Shenanigans, Swearing, Wat even is this?, lance is a ghost, non-binary Pidge, trans keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-21 00:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10673796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VinVictory/pseuds/VinVictory
Summary: "Hey, Keith? Are you done yet?" Lance asks from behind the door. "Can I come in?""Yeah, I'm done changing."Out of curiosity, Keith looks over his shoulder of how Lance will enter his room. He eyes the door."Aaaaannnddd, you're in your boxers." Lance says.Silence.Sonovabish went through the door!*Where Lance is a ghost and Keith is the only one who can hear him! :0Join Keith as he discovers the revelations and the truth behind Lance's death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! I'm back from the dead and I brought with me a new fanfic. I swear that I won't abandon this just like my two previous fanfictions. I haven't written for a very long time so please bear with me. Enjoy! :-)

The sound of feet pounding against tiled floor echoed through the empty hallways of Garrison University. He can hear his blood rush in his ears as he sprints, fists and feet pumping as he propels his body forward. Beads of sweat starts to form on his forehead and he starts to run out of breath but no, he can't stop, not when he's almost there. Finally, he makes a turn to his right and makes an abrupt stop infront of a door. With a hand on the door knob, he takes a deep breath then twists it open.

"Keith," he freezes at the sound of his name. "You're late, AGAIN."

"Uh, I'm sorry Mr. Iverson. I had a ,uh, a bit "bike" problem on my way here and—"

"I couldn't care less why you're late-you interrupted my class!" He paused, then, "Detention."

Keith felt his jaw drop.

"For one hour, after classes in my office. Don't be late this time."

"B-but Mr. Iverson, I have somewhere to be—"

"Then tell your nerdy friends you can't be there because you're stupid enough to get yourself into detention for an hour. Wait, that just earned you two hours."

Keith's mouth hangs in disbelief.

"Now take a sit , bike boy."

Finally coming back to his senses, he notice everyone else in the room has their eyes on him, and they're all LAUGHING at him. Heat went off his cheeks while he slowly walks towards an empty seat at the back of the class, bowing his head in humiliation as he avoids the judgemental eyes of the witnesses. When he sat down, one of his classmates threw a crumpled paper directly at his face. Keith scowled at them as they continue to chuckle to themselves. He flicks the crumpled paper away and he realises that the person sitting next to him is chuckling to himself aswell.

 

Pulling at his black fingerless gloves, Keith's right eye twitched slightly as he glared at the blue-eyed brunette. Eventually, his chuckling died and he cleared his throat. The brunette glances at Keith and he reciprocates his glare with a sneer.

"What are you looking at" he leans a little closer with a smug look on his face. "Bike boy?"

Keith gave him an unimpressed look then turned. his attention to whatever Mr.Iverson was saying.

". . .got it approved by the principal. I deem this your most important project and requirement. Therefore if you are not able to participate, you automatically get an F and you will fail my class."

"What is our project exactly?" One of the students said.

"I'm glad you asked. Your project; camping trip."

All of the students groan.

"You can mope around if you want to but if you don't go there, prepare your farewell letters, drop out. This camping trip is actually a fund raising. project for the home of the aged that your principal has proposed and believe me, I don't want a week long stuck with all of you but business is business."

"Business my ass." Keith heard the brunette say under his breath. "Ain't my fault that they can't take care of themselves anymore."

"Now, going back to our lesson. . ."

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

RRRrrrrRrrIIIIIiiiiNNNNNnnnnnGGGGgggg!!!

 

The school bell rang, announcing everyone that it's time for lunch. The once empty halls are now filled with hungry students who had just exit their classroom. Keith ducks his head and avoids eye contact with anyone as he tries not to bump into someone in particu—

"Keithy-boy!" 

Shit.

Keith pretends that he hadn't heard the call and picks up his pace. Suddenly, someone yanks the hoodie of his jacket from behind, forcing him to stop in his tracks.

"Keithy-boy, what's got you in a hurry, eh? Didn't you miss me?"

"Tell me, what is there to miss, Andrew?"

"Sharp words coming from a short guy."

"What do you want from me this time?"

The tall man grinned wickedly down at Keith as he ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. He whistles and despite the noise coming from the passing students, a group of taller boys approached them. Keith rolled his eyes. 

"You see, me and my boys are a little short on our lunch. We were hoping that you'd fix that."

He clenches his jaw, "I don't have enough money."

"Oh, but you do have money, now don'tcha?"

Andrew eyed Keith in a deadly way and he eyed him right back, hoping his has more venom in his eyes than Andrew's.

"Well?" Andrew pushed Keith against the locker. "Are you gonna give to me or what?!"

"Yeah, bike boy."

Keith, Andrew, and the group of boys, were startled at the voice that came out of nowhere. Craning his neck to peer over Andrew's shoulder, Keith was able to see the person who just spoke; it was the brunette in Mr.Iverson's class earlier.

The brunette's cold blue eyes met his, "Gonna give it or are we gonna have to make you?"

He and Keith had a silent stare down, then Keith's eyes darts to Andrew's. He pushed him off and wrinkled out his shirt.

"Fine." Keith says through gritted teeth.

Andrew grinned down at him and held out an open hand to recieve the money. Keith shoves his hands into his front pockets to search for his wallet. When he pulled them out, one was occupied with it and he grudginly pulls out what's left of the cash in it. He slaps it onto Andrew's palm. The taller man immediately counts the money and throws Keith a scronful look.

"This is it?"

"I told you, I don't have enough money."

"Even the rats in my apartment has much more money than you!"

"Good to know someone's actually paying for your aparment rent."

"Why you little—"

Andrew raises a fist and threatens to punch Keith in the face. The shorter boy just squeezes his eyes shut and turn his cheek to brace himself for the impact."

"Hey, hey, hey!" A large man with tan skin and a yellow bandana tied on his forehead came sauntering towards them with a short girl in glasses by his side. "Drew, you know that if you get into another fight, you can get expelled."

Hesitantly, Andrew relaxes and gave Keith a wicked wide grin as he dusts off Keith's shirt.

"You're good," he says. "You're good." 

"Come on, Drew." The Brunette blurts. "Let's not waste anymore of our time with useless bike boy over here."

Keith glared at them as the brunette fists bumps with Andrew.

"So long, Keithy-boy! Hope to see you again real soon."

They went off along with the large man and the short girl, and Keith assumes they're friends with them. He examines the halls and notes that there are only a few students left. The majority probably enjoying their lunch right now.

Lunch.

Ah, the one that he can't have since he doesn't have any more money.

Great.

He pounds the locker infornt of him out of frustration. Guess he has to ignore the growling of his stomach, AGAIN.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Keith enters the empty elevator then presses the button for his desired floor. He leans his back against the mirror and closed his eyes. What a day it has been and boy, Keith's exhausted. Ironically. from that boring detention he has to sit through, with Mr. Iverson's occassional glaring over the text book he's been reading. His Aunt Flora would be so mad at him for being late. Hopefully she'd be sympathetic because someone from school happened to pop one of the tires from his bicycle and he had to walk from the Garrison towards here, which took him an hour and a half to obtain.

The elevator dings, then opens. He steps out, half expecting his Aunt to be standing just outside waiting for him. He's right. 

Aunt Flora is taller than him, especially with the expensive killer hills she is so fond of wearing. She's wearing a tight bright red buttoned blazer and a tight skirt. Her outfit goes well with her auburn hair bonded in a bun and aswell with her scarlet lips. Aunt Flora is a rich and powerful woman and she's not afraid to show it.

He approaches her with a nervous look, his hands in his pockets.

"Good evening, Aunt Flora." The woman looks at him. "I'm sorry I'm late. You see, I—"

He was caught off by a slap against his cheek.

"You know better than to make me wait. I have business to do." She pauses and looks Keith up and down for the first time. "Ah, you're still at it, huh?"

Keith abruptly looks up, "What?"

"The thing. Still wanting to be a boy?."

He clenches his jaw, "I am boy, Aunt Flora."

"Oh, as they say, "in your dreams" Camille."

Keith freezes.

"I'm just letting you off the hook with that one since your mother made it clear to me that she is okay with it. You are really lucky, Camille. You'd be as good as dead if you weren't my sister's daughter. Now, hurry along. I have other important meetings to attend to."

Keith watch as Aunt Flora saunters towards one of the hospital rooms. He takes a deep breath. This is why he doesn't like visiting his mother with Aunt Flora; she always uses his dead name and she always intentionally misgender him. That makes his blood boil.

"And lucky for you, you're my mother's sister. If not, I would have buried you to the ground a long long time ago." He whispered to himself.

"Camille!"

Keith scrambles to follow her, "I'm coming, Aunt Flora!"

They enter the room to the quiet hum of the machines and to a nurse scribbling notes on a ledger. Aunt Flora speaks with her while Keith walks towards her mother.

"Hi, mom."

He stares at her wrinkled pale face framed with short raven hair. Her dark eyes stare blankly up the ceiling from where she lies.

"I hope you wake up soon. Ever since the accident, things have been very difficult. I. . ."

He feels an arm wrap around his shoulders.

"It breaks my heart to see her this way," Aunt Flora says. "She used to be energetic. Now, she looks. . .dead."

Keith stares at his shoes.

"She'll be so sad if she wakes up finding out that your father is. . ."

Keith furrowed his brows, "What do you mean if she wakes up? "When she wakes up" is what you mean."

"Camille, there is a 50-50 chance your mother could wake up or not and you need to realize that. You're not a kid anymore, that's why you need to pull yourself together and make your life better for your own good."

She grabs Keith's chin with one hand, "So, if I find out you're wasting the money I'm sending you for school, daughter of my beloved sister or not, you're dead. Literally. Understand?"

Keith made a silent nod.

"Answer me, Camille!"

". . .I understand."

"Good. I'm glad we have an agreement."

She lets go of Keith's chin and gives his mother one last look then leaves.

The shorter boy glared furiously at the door where Aunt Floura had exit from. He hates her guts, that 's for sure, but never had he ever had the urge to just strangle her to death, not because she keeps on calling him his dead name or keeps on misgendering him, but because he said all of those things infront of his mother, regardless if she's in a coma or not.

He looks back at his mother and gave her a sad smile. He leans down to kiss her forehead then he leaves the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Rubbing his eyes, Keith groans as he twists his torso, ruffling the sleeping bag around him. He feels last night's sleep ache at his lower back, making him groan more. Stupid camping trip. He'd be chilling in his apartment if it weren't for this. Now what did he gain? Insect bites, that's what. He's even surprised that he managed to fall asleep despite them swarming all around is face. Maybe they bit him enough to make him pass out. Now that certainly makes much more sense than—

"Rise and shine, Keithy-boy!"

The next thing Keith felt was water being poured down on his face and most of it rushed into his nostrils. He immediately sits upright, coughing and squeezing his nose to get the water out. He opens his eyes for the first time since he woke up and found a chuckling Andrew and the smiling brunette holding a water bottle beside him. 

"Time to wake up bike boy." The brunette says. "Mr. Iverson's calling for all of us out in the assembly area. Gonna be late for that too?"

"I'll be right out," Keith says as he pinches his nose. 

"Oh, I forgot something," Andrew says as he gets the water bottle from the brunette and pours the remaining contents on top of Keith's head. The shorter boy can only let the water roll down to his face as he clenches his jaw. "It's a little hot outside. Thought you might wanna cool off."

"Thanks." Keith says through gritted teeth. "Highly appreciated."

Andrew chuckles then fist bumps with the brunette. Both of them leaves the cabin, leaving Keith to dry his hair off as quickly as he can.

 

". . .as seperate groups. We meet back here by the time the horn sounds." Mr. Iverson was saying when Keith finally steps out of his cabin and joins his classmates at the assembly area. "There will be no shenanigans and everyone will stick to their groupmates. No one goes astray. You'll never know the creatures out in this forest. I'll be going with the hunting group because that's the most dangerous task there is. I'll be seeing you all later."

Everyone started moving away from the area, leaving Keith standing there in confusion. What group was he in?

"Hey." 

Someone taps on his shoulder. He turns around to find a short girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and short black hair. She smiles at him.

"You're Keith right? You're with our group. We're tasked to collect wood for fire. Best we start now."

"Oh, right. Thanks."

"I'm Becka by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Becka."

"Come on. We better join the others or we might get left behind."

They started walking towards their group mates. When Keith looks over his shoulder, he sees Andrew giving him a nasty look. He shrugs it off as he pulls at his black fingerless gloves thst he never goes out without wearing.

 

"You know, while I think it's nice to have a fund raising project the university can participate in, throwing us in a place full of insects sure is a pain on the rear." 

"Tell me about it." Keith agrees under his breath. "It's almost the end of this school year, why won't we give the students a hard time? Pfft! I bet that's what they're thinking."

Becka laughs whole-heartedly as they both pick up bundles of wood from the grass. His pile is getting bigger and bigger, aswell as Becka's. He's happy that he met atleast one aqquaintance before the school year ends. He never knew anyone, let alone consider someone as his friend. Except for Andrew, he knows him. He knows the guy is an asshole.

"Keith!" Becka calls. "You hear that?"

Keith listens carefully and he hears it; the horn sounding off back from the assembly area.

He stands straight, seeming a bit surprised. "So soon?"

"Who cares?! Let's go back. The insects here are ten times worse than in my cabin."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Keith look from left to right to see if anyone was heading his way. When he was sure no one was there, he closed his cabin door and takes a deep breath. The sun is almost coming down and he just finished helping the others for dinner. It's only been the second day and he already feels like quiting. Boy was this gonna be a long week.

He sits down on the side of his bed and clutches the end if his white t-shirt tightly. 

"Only for a little bit," Keith assures himself.

Finally, he pulls his t-shirt off, his binder next, then puts his shirt back on. He inhales a long breath and releases it after a few seconds. Maybe one day he'll get a cabin like this and live far from the noisy city. Somewhere far far away. And you know, minus the insects.

The entire room dims as the sun goes down. Keith's only source of light is the bon fire from the assembly area where everyone is gathering around for supper. He debates wether he should put his binder back on or not. He goes with the latter.

 

"I saw you with my girl earlier." Andrew says with his arms folded across his chest. Keith just continues finishing his food while sitting on a tree stump, a few steps away from everyone else. "I saw you talking to her. Trying to still my girl, eh Keithy-boy?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what the hell I'm talking about. You and Becka!"

"What about it? She approached me and we were in the same group. What the hell is your problem?"

"Becka is mine. She's my girl. Don't talk to her, don't look at her and don't you ever ever touch her."

"Hey, I don't want anything to do with "your girl", okay? If she's really your girl then she must see things that I can't because I seriously don't know what she sees on you for you to be her boyfriend."

"You better watch your mouth or I'm gonna rip it out and make sure you do."

"Drew."

Both Keith and Andrew turns their attention to the person who just spoke. Keith rolled his eyes as soon as he saw the brunette.

"Drew, what the hell are you doing? The boys are waiting at the back, I thought you said you'd be there?"

"I will be," he looks at Keith. "Just trying to make sure we're clear on some things."

Keith scoffs, "woop-dee-fucking-doo."

"Hey! I said—"

"Cut the crap Andrew!" The brunette shouts, much on both boy's surprise. "You're wasting our time on the shit that you do, man. Come on and drag your ass out there."

Andrew and the brunette both have a quiet but deadly staredown while Keith just continues in finishing his dinner. Finally, Andrew walks past the brunette, intentionally bumping his shoulder to the other. Keith and the brunette makes eye contact before he leaves.

That night must've been Keith's last encounter with the brunette because after the camping trip and the remaining days of school before summer, he never saw him hanging out Andrew and the others, or even with the large man with the yellow banda and the short girl with glasses. He never saw him again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Keith, where are you? Mark's shift is almost over. By the time he leaves, no one will be watching the register. You better be up and ready by now."

"Relax, Shiro. I'll be there in no time. I'm already a few blocks away. I gotta hang up now because I'm riding my bike. Safety first, am I right?"

"Alright. I'll be waiting. Be safe."

"Yeah, thanks. I'm already on my way. Bye."

"Good bye."

Keith hangs up.

"Shit! Shit!" He leaps up from his bed and runs towards the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, he grabs his tootbrush and toothpaste and notes how bad his bed head is. His hair looks like an untaimed animal, which is exactly what he is. Goddess, he gets his first job and is graced with a boss such as Shiro and this is what he repays him? Showing up late for work for how many times and oh, don't forget to mention LYING. On the way?! What were you thinking Keith?

"Shit!" He cursed under his breath.

He spits out then rinses his mouth. He splashed water on his face and ran back to his bedroom. Goddess, help him. He's a mess. Not long before summer ended and it has already been six weeks after school has started and he's already a wreck. Guess that's the life for a working student despite his Aunt Flora's money. He's gotta learn how to earn money for himself sooner or later.

Keith takes his shirt off and quickly puts a clean binder on with much effort. Snatching a fresh pair of jeans and red checkered shirt and his gloves he tries to tame his bed head while putting on his clothes somehow. 

After pulling and fumbling, Keith deems he is now suitable to go out. He shoves his feet into his pair of black boots, then grabs his shoulder bag and his bicycle helmet, and with a little more stumbling, he finally leaves.

 

"You're late, AGAIN." Shiro, his boss, says with both of his hands on his hips. "I knew I shouldn't have believed you when you said you were on your way."

Keith rolls his eyes as he unstraps his helmet off, "We're in the 21st century, Shiro. "On my way" doesn't exactly mean what it's supposed to mean."

"I figured."

The shorter boy looks around the café. Only a few customers are enjoying the sweet warm coffee at 6:09 am. Keith mentally notes that he has to go to school at exactly 8 am before his classes start. 

"You're lucky," Shiro says, pointing a finger from his right prosthetic arm at Keith. "There are only a few customers at this time. You'll be in big trouble if it were busy hours."

"Well, I'm here now." He says while putting his apron and cap on. "You don't have to worry, bro. You can go back to your office to handle whatever business big bosses—"

The doors of the café opens and the chimes sounded. Keith freezes, leaving his sentence unfinished and his mouth hanging open. 

Shiro frowns, "Keith? What's—?"

"Sshhh!! Duck!" He whispers frantically. 

"What? Why are—?"

"Just duck!"

Keith yanks Shiro's hand to hide behind the counter. The older man stares at Keith in confusion for a few seconds before he finally speaks.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Uh, the people who just entered. . .I know them. They're from the University."

"So? Let's go and say hi." Shiro motions to stand up but Keith yanks him back down.

"No! No,no,no! Not exactly my friends."

"What? You got into a fight with them?"

"Well, not really. Just—"

Shiro suddenly stands up and Keith felt an incredible amount of horror.

"Hello! Will you be ordering right now?"

One of the two customers smiles then nods his head.

"Hold on for a sec, if you please." Shiro ducks back down to face Keith.

"Go up and take their order."

"But—"

"That's your job." Shiro motions him to stand up. "Now go do it."

Keith sighs and finally forces himself to stand up. He plasters a fake smile on his face for the two customers infront of him that makes his chest fill with dread.

" Good morning and welcome to the Altean Café. What will you be having?"

 

Please don't recognize me, please don't recognize me.

 

Silence.

 

"Keith? Is that you?" 

 

Oh, for fuck's sake!

 

The shorter boy adjusts his cap to hide some of his face better. "What will you be having?"

"Oh, it is you! How are you doing, man?"

Keith internally sighs, then lifts his cap up from his face to see the large man with a yellow bandana on his forehead and a short girl with glasses sitting on one of the stools beside him. Both are giving him bright smiles.

"I'm great." Keith says flatly.

"That's nice to hear since you've been acting so strange ever since the three of us became lab partners last week. Is there something wrong?"

"Uh, no! No, nothing's wrong. . ." He offers them an unconvincing smile. "You've been really nice to me, to be honest." He darts his eyes behind them, checking if a certain "someone" came in with them. "I mean, one of your friends really gets me uncomfortable, but it's fine, tis'fine."

The short girl eyes him carefully. "Oh, I think I finally get it, Hunk."

"Hunk", Keith thinks. "So that's his name."

"What?"

"I think I finally get it, why he feels so uneasy with us."

Keith squints at her, "Uh, you do?"

"Yeah," she says, then she flashes him a genuine smile. "You're talking about Andrew, right? The douchebag."

"You call him douchebag? Aren't you friends?"

"Him?!" She scoffs. "We were never friends with him. You only see us with him because our real friend hangs out with him often."

Keith crosses his arms, "But you're still friends with one of his boys?"

"Trust me," the large man says. "He didn't know what he was doing. We stopped hanging out with Drew a long time ago."

"Soooo," Keith drawls. "You're not here to hussle me like what Andrew is so fond of doing?"

"Pfft! It's 6 something in the morning. I'm here for coffee, not quarrels. Plus, if you haven't noticed, we're the nice type of meat. Don't worry about it." Pidge says.

 

"Well, how about a fresh start?" The large man holds out a hand for him to shake, which he accepts."I'm Hunk, in case you haven't known yet. This here is Pidge and their pronouns are they/them."

Oh, shit. 

He mentally kicks himself for thinking they're a girl.

 

"Oh, thank you for letting me know." Keith smiles at both of them.

"We friends?" Pidge beams, holding one of their hands out. Keith accepts it.

"Definitely." He pauses. "Now, what will you be having, Hunk and Pidge?" Keith asks and this time, he finds a genuine smile plastered on his face instead of a fake one.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RRRRRRRrrrrrrIIIIIIiiiNNNNnnnnGGGGggggg!!!

The school bell rings and everyone bursts out of their classrooms to have lunch. Keith pulls his hood up and speed walks through the hungry students in the hallways, trying his best not to bump into anyone he does't—

"Hey, Keithy-boy!"

 

Shit!

 

Without looking back, Keith starts to run through the crowded halls. He weaves, twists, and turns. He risks a peer over his shoulder to find Andrew and several boys running behind him and are hot on his tale. Gritting his teeth, he makes a turn to his right and halts. The short boy looks from left to right, then sprints to his left where a fire exit is found. He kicks open the door then slides down the stairs using the railings at the side. Keith can hear the approaching footsteps behind him and that made him run even faster. He finally reached the bottom of the stairs and bursts out into the school's yard. The light made Keith squint that's why he didn't see who yanked him into a bush and abruptly covers his mouth. He flails his hands out for a bit but stops when Andrew and the others ran past them. When they were sure that Andrew was gone, the person removes their hands from Keith's mouth. The latter immediately turns to whoever the—

"Pidge?" Keith breathes. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were someone else."

They chuckle, "Nope, just me. I saw you running from one of the windows in the hallways, then I saw Andrew and I figured you were being chased."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Pidge adjusts their glasses. "So, he's trying to get money from you again?"

"Well, normally he does that." Keith sighs. "But this time, it's for a completely different reason."

"Mind telling me what it is?"

He glances at them sideways before taking a deep breath. "Becka."

"Andrew's girlfriend? What about her?"

"We met way back at the camping trip last school year. Andrew told me to keep my distance from her. I did as best as I could since she was always the one approaching me. But 2 weeks after classes began, I bump into her. We exchange a little small talk until she almost tripped and I had to hold her hand so she won't fall, and damn, Andrew was at the other end of the hallway."

"And you've been on the run ever since? Have you tried explaining what really happened?"

"Yeah, I did. He wouldn't listen."

"Did Becka told him?"

"I don't know, but I couldn't care less what she says to him. I just want to keep out of Andrew's reach."

"He still hasn't changed, huh?. . .Do you," Pidge pauses, then, "Do you like her? Because that's gonna be a problem."

"I. . ." Keith scratches his nape. "I don't. . .swing that way. . ."

They raise their eyebrows, ". . .oh."

". . .yeah. I'm. . .gay." Oh gosh, why is he coming out to someone who he barely knows?! Pidge could be secretly friends with Andrew and is only befriending him to get some information.

"Does anybody else know?"

"Not really."

"Well, then that's okay!" They beam. "Let's go and meet up with Hunk. We can go grab pizza and hang out in one of the benches."

Keith smiles, "That would be nice."

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

After classes, Keith dashes through the parking lot to grab his bike, only to find out that one of the tires deflated. Someone must've pulled a prank on him again and popped it. Great. He decides that he should just abandon his bike. It served him a few long years, he guesses it's time for it to retire. He pats one of the handles then leaves. Guess he has to take the subway.

 

When he payed for his ride home, he pulls up his hoodie incase he encounters anyone who knows him or anyone he knows. The short boy enters the next train and leans against the metal wall of the train. He was scrolling through his phone when he heard it.

"Psst."

He bows his head further.

"Psst."

He continues scrolling through his phone.

"Psst! You! You in the hoodie."

Keith abruptly lifts his head up. He slowly turns his head to the left. All of the people there have all their heads bowed. Others are asleep while most of them are also scrolling through their phones. Keith furrows his brows. He looks at his right and finds the same scene. He must be hearing things.

"Keith, can you hear me?"

He tries to find where the source is coming from but the voice sounds like it's echoing from another place, like it's living in his head or something.

"You can, can you?"

Keith shakes his head. Is he really that lonely for him to start hearing voices in his head? He pulls out his ear phones then plugs them in. He plays his music at the highest volume. That seems to take care of it.

 

After a long walk from the subway, Keith finally arrives at his apartment. He jams his keys into the keyhole, turns the door knob and enters his apartment.

"Nice apartment."

 

He quickly turns his head behind him, but there was no one there. Is there an intruder in his apartment? The door was obviously locked. Maybe they got in through the window?

"Is anyone there?" Keith asks.

 

"Uh, hello? I'm right here."

Startled, Keith crouches down and grabs an umbrella from beside the doorway. 

"I'm gonna call the cops if you don't leave the fuck now!" 

"Oh," the voice says, and Keith realizes that it's the same echoey voice he heard in the subway train earlier. Damn, was he followed? "What are they gonna do? Arrest me? They can't even find me, damn it."

The short boy cautiously crawls behind the couch. "What, are you some kind of criminal on the loose or something?"

"Nope, not really." The echoey voice said and it sounded so close that Keith swore it was like the man was talking right next to his ear. The hair on Keith's arms and nape stand on end. "But I will tell you what I really am." 

He breathes nervously, "What?"

Keith feels something cold on his right ear, the same spot where the voice whispers "I'm a ghost."

 

Keith screams and runs up the stairs. He hears the echoey voice laughing out loud right before he missed a step then fell down the stairs. He hits his head on the wooden floor mildly, and when the echoey voice curses under its breath, Keith passes out.


	4. Chapter 4

"Great, you're awake. For a second there, I thought you were dead."

Keith slowly sits up, putting a hand on his aching head where it had hit the floor. He can feel pain in his chest from the binder he's been wearing. He notes that he has to remove it before bed. The scene before him is dim, because the sun came down and he hasn't opened the lights yet. Well, how can he? He passed out on the floor after trying to run away from a "ghost".

"I kinda wish I am," Keith says. "So I don't have to deal with this bullshit."

"Bullshit?" The echoey voice says. "Don't you think it's cool that you have a ghost talking to you?"

"That depends if the ghost is an asshole, which by the way, you are an asshole."

"Pfft, tell me something I don't know."

"Tell me," he stands up and opens the lights. "And I want the truth, are you really a ghost?"

"Affirmative."

"Then why can't I see you?"

"Uh, I don't know either."

"Bullshit."

"Hey, man. You're the first person that can hear me. I've been roaming around for months now and out of all people I tried to talk to, it had to be you who heard me."

"Why me?"

"I don't know either."

Keith sighs in exasperation, "Well then go away and find the answer. Don't come back."

"No can do, sir."

"What? Why?"

"Because," the voice takes a deep breath. "I need your help."

Keith scoffs, "Oh, you need my help?"

"Yeah."

"For what?"

"Alright," the voice pauses and Keith feels a sudden wind blowing to the couche's direction. "How about we sit down and I'll tell you." 

Keith crosses his arms, making no move to join the ghost on the couch.

"Okay, suit yourself. So, obviously you want me to leave you alone—"

"Gee, what gave it away?"

"—and believe me, I don't wanna be around you as much as you don't want me to be around you, but the only way you're gonna get rid of me for good is to help me."

"Help you on what?"

"Ah-ah-ah!" The ghost says and Keith imagines he's wagging a finger as he said that. "Before I tell you, you gotta tell me that you will help me."

"Fuck no!" Keith snaps. "I'm not the one in need here. I don't care what happened to you because from the looks of it, you died because you're an asshole and assholes deserve to die."

A long moment of silence consumes them before the ghost speaks again.

"Wow, sharp tongue." He says. "But that's not why I died."

"Yeah? Well, how did you?"

A pause, then, "I can't tell you that unless you tell me that you're gonna help me."

"This is bullshit." Keith says under his breath. "Why would I help someone who I barely know?"

"I'm already dead. What's the point in trying to get to know me?"

"For all I know, I could be talking to a criminal who deserved to die for a crime he did. While I like to get rid of you as soon as NOW, I'd rather let you suffer for a little longer for those whom you caused harm."

"Mmm," the voice hums in amusement. "Very smart of you, however, I am not a criminal. Sure, I made mistakes and caused harm to other people, but I didn't deserve to die. Atleast, not this young."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Then how old are you?"

"I'm. . .same as your age."

The short boy raised both of his eyebrows. "That young?"

"Yep."

"Did you ever finished high school?"

"This year's my last year 'till I could finally graduate."

"Oh. What's your name?"

"I never recalled me agreeing on a question and answer portion."

"This is me trying to get to know you better rather than knowing you as a ghost that I hit my head running away from. I'm assuming you already know a little information about me since you implied that you know my age and you know my name. Am I right?"

"You some kind of detective or something?" The ghost says and Keith can only imagine the smirk on his face. "That's a pretty good deduction."

"Thanks. It's one of my interests."

"Then you're the perfect guy to help me out!" He says enthusiastically.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I still don't know your name."

The ghost sighs, "If I do tell you my name, does that mean you'll consider helping me out?"

A long pause, then Keith shrugs.

"A shrug? Are you kidding me?"

"I have to think about it. Are you gonna tell me your name or what?"

Silence.

"Okay," Keith says, then he starts climbing up the stairs.

"Lance."

Keith pauses in midstep.

"Lance McClain."

The short boy frowns. He hasn't heard that name before. 

"Ring a bell?" The ghost asks.

Keith shakes his head, "Haven't heard that name, to be honest."

"You're kidding right?"

Keith shakes his head once more.

"I guess that's better."

"Better how?"

"Better for you to find out for yourself."

Keith sighs as he rubs his eyes.

"Are you gonna, uh, live with me from now on?"

"Well, yeah, but when you say it like that, it kinda sounds gay somehow, but yeah. You'll be hearing from me 24/7."

"Gay somehow," Keith repeats quietly to himself with a shake of his head. "Well, I guess you're my flat mate then. Too bad you can't pay half of my rent."

"Nah. It's not like I need to eat or need any electricity or something." Lance paused. "But boy, I kinda miss pizza and my phone right now. I guess that's what you get for dying young, huh?"

"That's. . .that's morbid."

"Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"So, how does this work exactly?" Keith leans forward on the stair case's railing. "Are you gonna follow me wherever I go now? To school? To work?"

"You work?"

"I'm the one asking questions."

Lance sighs, "Well, yeah. Wherever you go, I go. Can't let you out of my radar since you're the only one that can help me."

"I never said I'd help you."

"Yeah, but you never said you wouldn't either."

He paused, then nods his head. "Nice."

"Thanks."

"You know your boundaries, right? You can't go with me whenever I go to the bathroom or when I change my clothes."

"What's the matter? We're both guys anyway."

"Boundaries."

Lance groans, "If that makes you less of an asshole, then alright."

Keith sighs in relief. "Glad we have an agreement. I'm gonna change right now and I trust you enough not to go against your word and take a peek on me."

"Dude, chillax. I'm not interested."

"Great."

Keith climbs up the remaining steps, then enters his room. He closes the door to make himself feel better although Keith is pretty sure that ghosts can go through doors. He sits on the edge of his bed then removes his checkered shirt, his binder next. He gabs a pillow and hold it against his chest as he scrambles to get his grey baggy sweater from his closet. Quickly putting on the sweater, he chucks the pillow back on his bed then strips his pants so he's just wearing his black boxers. When he's done, he throws himself on the bed, flat on his stomach, then stretches his body. Today has been a crazy day. Keith can feel it in the way his muscles ache from all the adrenaline from running, from the pain stabbing in his ribs for wearing his binder for too long, and from the pulsing head ache he had ever since he fell from the stairs. Now he has a ghost living with him. Maybe he's just going mad from the lack of social interaction and from living alone this whole time? The conversation must be a hallucination or something, but that felt pretty real. He's gonna have to trust his guts because he's the only one who can hear him, according to the ghost. Oh, his name his Lance, Lance McClain. He swears that he has never heard that name before.  
He guesses that it isn't all that bad. He's always alone in the apartment, some company would be nice.

"Hey, Keith? Are you done yet?" Lance asks from behind the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I'm done changing."

Out of curiosity, Keith looks over his shoulder of how Lance will enter his room. He eyes the door.

 

"Aaaaannnddd, you're in your boxers." Lance says.

 

Silence.

 

Sonovabish went through the door!

 

"What? Just because a ghost forcefully moves in with me means I can't be comfortable in my own apartment?"

"Well, not exactly."

"I thought so."

Keith feels a cold presence beside his left leg and he realizes that Lance must be sitting beside it. 

"So," The short boy starts. "You can go through doors?"

"Every object, yeah. I can't touch what living people can touch."

"So, how are you sitting on my bed right now?"

"What? You can see me?"

"No, but I can tell you're sitting at the edge of the bed."

"Uhm, I float actually. So when I sit, I don't actually touch the bed."

"Oh."

Both of them don't speak for a long time. Keith just stares at a wall while Lance, Keith assumes, just sits there in silence. A few moments later, Keith can feel a pair of eyes staring at the back of his head. So, he shifts his position so he's lying on his back and staring at his ceiling. He can still feel Lance gazing at him.

"Why are you staring?" He looks at the edge of his bed, assuming that's where Lance is. "Something you wanna say?"

 

Silence.

 

"Lance?"

 

He sighs, "Sorry, uhm." Lance clears his throat. "But, where is everyone? Like your mom? Dad? Any siblings?"

Keith takes a deep breath, then, "I live alone."

"Oh. Don't you get lonely?"

"I try not to think 'bout it really. What do you care anyway?"

 

Lance doesn't reply but Keith can tell that he just shrugged.

"You know I can't see you, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Lance clears his throat again. "I'm just not used to a quiet household, you know? Back at mom's place, there were all kinds of noises but I got used to them. Like the t.v., the stove, the lawn mower. . . Especially my siblings." Lance chuckles. "We're a big family."

Silence.

"You do realize that this won't make me agree to help you, Lance."

"No, my gosh. I'm not using my family to get you to help me. Why do you gotta be so insensitive." He paused. "But it didn't help you consider agreeing to help—?"

"Good night, Lance." Keith stands up to turn the lights off.

"Hey, come on!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Awe, man. You work in a coffee shop?!"

Keith bursts into the café, hoisting his shoulder bag higher on his shoulder while he coughs into his left hand.

"This place is so cool! I used to hang out here with my friends. How come I never saw you serving here?"

"I just applied for the job three weeks—" Keith coughs again. "Ehem!. . .Ago."

"You sick?"

"No." He sniffs. "Hey, does a ghost living with you have any side effects?"

"What the fuck? What kind of question is that?"

"I don't know. I feel like shit ever since you came into my life."

"I can always leave if you help me ou—"

"Again with that crap!"

"Woah," Shiro says. "If you're so sick of me saying "you're late again", you can start showing up at work early for me to stop."

Keith stood dumbfounded as he was about to go through the other side of the counter. Shiro crosses his arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Shiro," Keith starts. "That really wasn't for you."

"Really? Who was it for then?"

"Uh, I was, uh. . ." 

"Tell him that you were talking to yourself." Lance says.

"What?" Keith murmurs through grit teeth. "He'll think I'm crazy."

"Same thing he'll think when you tell him that you were talking to a ghost!"

"Well?" Shiro prompts.

"Uhhh. . . I was talking to. . .myself, cause, like, I always arrive late and I'm sick of it—" Keith coughs into his hand.

"Literally." Lance snickers.

Keith throws a nasty look behind him.

"Really?" Shiro asks as he puts both of his hands on his hips. 

"Yeah, sorry about being late Shiro." Keith says as he puts his bag down and wears his apron and cap. Shiro's eyes widens as Keith stands behind the cashier, implying that he can take care of the customers now. He frowns when Shiro doesn't move.

"Uh, Shiro? I can take it from here. Is there something wrong?"

"N-nothing," Shiro blinks as if he was lost in his thoughts for a moment. "It's just, you never appologized for being late to me before."

 

Shit.

 

"Oh, ahahahaha. . ." He laughs nervously. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"You tell me." He leans against the counter. "Keith, is there something you're not telling me?"

Keith gulps, "What made you ask that?"

"You seem kinda bit off lately."

"I'm fine, Shiro." He says as he grabs a cloth and wipes the counter. "Nothing's going on."

"You sure? No one bothering you? Anything? Do you take off your bind—"

"Shiro!" Keith blurts out, his whole body frozen in place. "I'm fine. Don't worry. If something's wrong, I would've told you right away."

Shiro stares at Keith before he stands up straight. "Okay. Just. . .I care about you, Keith."

"I know."

They both nod before Shiro leaves the counter. When Keith's sure he's gone, he heaves out the breath he's been holding. Lance almost found out the biggest detail of him.

""Wow," Lance says while clapping his hands. "That was so sweet. Was that guy your boyfriend or something?"

"Shiro? What?! No!" Keith blushes madly as he continues cleaning the counter. "I-I, uh, I don't swing that way."

"Hahaha, relax. I'm just teasing. But tell me, is he  
your brother?"

"I wish he was."

"So, no?"

"No."

"Ah. Childhood friend?"

"No."

"Just friends?"

"Best friends."

"Oh." Someone enters the café. "Oooh! Look at the beautiful girl who just walked in!"

Keith looks up just in time to see a girl ,with blonde hair tied into pigtails and is wearing a short blue dress, saunter towards the counter. 

"You gotta go get her number for me, Keith."

"Oh, what? So she can get calls from a damn ghost?!"

"I don't know man! If I wasn't dead, I'd probably be all over her."

"Sick, dude."

"Ooh! She's coming! Act natural."

Keith rolls his eyes, then puts on a smile just as the blondie leans forward on the counter.

"Welcome to the Altean Café. What will you be having, miss?"

The girl smirks, "Hhhmm, I think I'll have one big cup of you."

 

Silence.

 

What the fuck?

 

"Holy crap, bruh." Lance blurts. "She's flirting! Go say something cool."

Keith looks over his shoulder and whispers "I will not take advice from a ghost."

The pretty girl chuckles, "I'm only teasing, pretty boy." She looks up at the menu board. "I'll have a capppuccino, medium."

"Coming right up."

Keith grabs a medium sized cup and starts preparing her order.

"What the hell, man?!" Lance says. "That was your chance."

"Not my style."

"You're kidding me right? You don't know how to smooth talk a girl?"

"Oh, yeah? How would you smooth talk her?"

"Watch and learn."

Keith imagines Lance leaning forward on the counter and grinning at the girl.

"Hey, pretty lady." He starts. "The name's Lance and in my first year in high school, I was known as "The Tailor". I'll leave it up to you to think of why they call me that."

Keith chuckles, "You're such a flirt."

"What's so funny?" The girl asks with a smile on her face.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought of something."

"Mind telling me what it is?"

"Nah. It's corny, to be honest."

"Come on, tell me."

"Come up with a joke." Lance advices. "Tell her about that joke about the goblin with the left arm and left leg thing."

"Uh, did you hear about the goblin who got his left arm and left leg cut off?"

She shakes her head.

"Well, he's all right now!"

". . ."

Silence.

 

Keith looks over his shoulder, "I knew I shouldn't have taken advice from a gho—"

The girl suddenly laughs out loud, making several seated customers turn their heads and give her a nasty look. Obviously, she doesn't care because she just continues laughing. Keith can only stare at how hard she was laughing. He eventually puts the cup of cappuccino on the counter infront of her.

Finally, her laughter dies down. "Oh, my. That was hilarious!" She wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. "I'm Nyma by the way." She slides a piece of paper across the counter.

"Uh, I'm Keith."

"Well Keith, call me."

She grabs the coffee then leaves.

 

Silence.

 

"Holy shit, dude!" Lance blurts. "You got her number! I'm so proud of you."

Keith shoves the paper into the front pocket of his pants, "I'm gonna kill you so bad, Lance."

"No can do, sir! I'm already dead!"

Keith grunts in frustration, following a series of coughs.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - 

"Can you imagine how amazing it must be to go up into space?" Hunk says while turning a page of a book he's reading. "I always wanted to go there."

"Fascinating." Keith says.

Hunk, Pidge and Keith are lounging in the school's library. Pidge is typing something into their laptop, Hunk is doing some research from a book, while Keith is doing an assignment so he won't have to do it later. He realizes that Lance hasn't spoken a word since he met up with Hunk and Pidge. He wonders if he actually left.

"Hey," Keith whispers. "Lance, are you there?"

He doesn't reply. Keith frowns in bewilderment.

"Lance?"

"Hmm?" The ghost answers. 

"Oh, I thought you finally left."

"No way, kiddo. Not until you help me."

He sighs to himself. "Still haven't thought about it yet."

"Are you kidding me? Come on. We've been talking together for hours now, even for a day! You still think I'm a bad guy?"

"No, but I do think you're an asshole."

"Oh, haha." Keith imagines that Lance rolled his eyes.

They stop talking for a long moment. Even Pidge and Hunk are too caught up on their school work to start up a conversation. Not even Lance, oddly.

"Lance?" Keith whispers.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you quiet all of a sudden?"

"Oh, is that supposed to be an insult? Are you saying I talk too much?"

"Well, you do, but. . .," He coughs into his hand. " . . . you're incredibly quiet."

"Well, it's because we're in a library. I keep on forgetting that I'm a ghost now and no one can hear me except for you. But I still have the habit of keeping my mouth shut in the library." Lance giggles. "I remember I always get scolded for being too noisy in a library a few years ago."

"Wow, I should come here often."

Lance scoffs, "You're an asshole, you know that?"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Right, Keith?" Pidge asks.

"I'm sorry, what?" He looks up and finds Hunk and Pidge staring directly at him with an expecting look on their faces. 

"I said," Pidge says. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could go to a concert together?"

"Y-yeah," Keith nods a little too much than necessary. "That sounds nice. Whose concert would you like to see?"

"Twenty One Pilots." Hunk blurts enthusiastically."

"Cold play." Pidge smirks. "What about you, Keith?"

"If I'm being honest, I'd like to go in one of Jason Derulo's concerts."

"Oh, that would be cool!" Hunks says. "What I like about concerts is the fact that you can have a glow-in-the-dark stick and wave it in the air."

"Wave it? I'd throw it at the band playing! I'd let them know how painful it is to be in love with someone you can't have." Pidge says dramatically.

"Hillarious." Keith paused. "Hey, can I ask a question?"

"Sure." Pidge adjusts their glasses.

"Uh, does either one of you know who Lance McClain is?"

Pidge suddenly stops typing while Hunk drops his pen. The air suddenly becomes heavy with silence, making Keith a little nervous. Lance must be in shock at the sudden question.

"You don't know him?" Hunk finally says. 

He shakes his head.

"What made you ask that question?" Pidge frowns at him.

"I, uh, just saw his name in the members of, uh, the school's group in Facebook." Yeah, that's a good lie. "And it's just, I've never heard that name before."

Pidge looks at Hunk and Hunk looks back at them. They seem to have a silent conversation with just their eyes. Keith feels his nerves tingling because finally, the identity of the fucking ghost following him around, is gonna be revealed. Pidge takes a deep breath and looks back at Keith.

"Lance McClain is the friend we were talking about who used to hang out with Andrew."

 

No fucking way.

 

"You actually know him." Hunk informs. "He's the skinny tall and tan brunette who hangs out with Andrew often."

Keith clenches his jaw and forms his hands into fists. "Really now? How come I don't see him anymore?"

"Uh," Hunk scratches his right cheek. "Don't tell anyone else, okay? This is just between the three of us."

Keith nods, then Hunk leans closer to him. Pidge goes back to typing onto their laptop.

"You see, something happened back at the camping trip. Lance and Andrew are both at the same group which are tasked to go hunting. Now, they said that Lance wondered off to the woods too far and got lost. That's what Mr. Iverson led us to believe. They kept the incident a secret so it won't cause panic to the students at the camp site and also kept it a secret for the school's reputation. Everyone else thought he transferred to another shool. The forest is being swarmed by police and rangers, hoping to find Lance. Till this day, he still hasn't been found."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Keith says. 

"It's okay. His whole family never gives up hope. They believe that Lance will eventually be found." Hunk puts a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "We hope that we'll get that same Lance back to tell us terrible puns and get to witness him flirt at girls again."

Pidge can't help but chuckle. "Yeah, that ugly fart."

Keith hears Lance snickering behind him.

"Well," Pidge stand up and puts their arms above their heads to stretch their body. "It's time for me to head home. Mom's gonna kill me if I'm late for my Uncle's birthday party."

"I gotta head out too." Hunk also stands up, scooping up all of his notebook and books in one arm. "What about you, man?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna finish my homework back at my apartment. See you guys tomorrow?"

"Definitely." Pidge smiles then they both leave.

Keith stands up and quietly puts his things back into his shoulder bag, his brows furrowed. After a long silence, Lance suddenly speaks.

"Keith."

He ignores him.

"Keith, don't give me the cold shoulder."

He slings his shoulder bag up, then starts walking out of the library.

"Keith, I know you're mad but please listen to me. Let me explain first."

He pulls out his ear phones and plugs it into his phone.

"Keith wait—"

He puts each one in both ears and plays the music at the highest volume.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Keith chucks the can of liqour across the room. That's his fifth can and boy was he drunk. He still has his earphones plugged in and the music blaring. He assumes that he'd be deaf when he wakes up tomorrow morning, but does he care? Fuck no, because he's so so so drunk. After a long time of just sitting on the couch and continuously having hiccups, he finally yanks his earphones off.

"T'so hot." He murmurs as he feels the heat of alcohol come off him. "T'so hot in here."

"Dude," Lance says above his head. "You are so fucking wasted."

Keith giggles, "Oh, it's you."

"Man, you need someone to take care of you."

The short boy waves a dismissive hand, "Pppffftt! I made it this far by myself, why do I need anyone to take care of me?"

Lance doesn't say anything after that.

"You know," Keith starts after a long moment of silence. "I'd kill to have my mom right now. She'd know what to do."

"Well, where is your mom?"

"She's in the damn hospital. She got into a car accident with dad. He didn't make it."

"Oh."

"Man, I hate to imagine how she'd react when she wakes up and finds out that dad is dead. You know, if she does wake up. Coma is a bitch."

Lance keeps silent.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be alone? As in, you can't run to someone when you're in need? No one to be there when you get home from school? Well, there's Shiro, but he has problems of his own. And I'm lucky Pidge and Hunk got to be my friends. They probably just think I'm a loser and takes pity on me. That's why they agreed into being friends."

"That's not true. I know them, they're not like that."

"Oh, yyyeeeaaaahhh!!!" Keith says with a wide grin on his flushed face. "You know them! You probably know Andrew too, right? You fucking asshole!"

"That's not being fair of you! If you know the whole story—"

"That's bullshit!" Keith shouts, then rubs his face. "Do you have any idea what all sorts of twisted shit Andrew pulled on me?! Like, this one time, he fucking glued my left hand at the boy's bathroom and left me there! What's worse? The glue he used was industrial glue. So, when I forced to take my hand off the wall, most of the skin got ripped off and it fucking hurt! When I got out, the lights where out and the doors were locked and I had to sleep at the steps of the staircase with my hand bleeding through my handkerchief because the clinic was locked." Keith rubs his face again. "That's why I always wear these gloves, to hide that nasty scar that won't seem to go away. And that's not the worst thing he has done!"

 

Silence.

 

"Ya know," Keith coughs a few times before continuing. "I really like having you around and always fucking talking, Lance."

"Gee, thanks. That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

Keith laughs out loud, followed by a series of coughs. When he's finished, he continues. "No, really. Even if it's only been a day or two, I like the stupid shit you say. It's nice. No one has ever last this long talking to me, so yeah."

". . .you should get some sleep."

"Sleep?"

"Mmm."

"Sleep." Keith smiles. "How about you?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you still need sleep?"

"N-no, I don't."

"So, what da ya do while I'm asleep?"

"Uhh, nothing really."

Keith giggles, "Do you watch me while I sleep?"

"What? No."

"You do, don't you?" He smiles like a child.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because," Keith does a peace sign with his two fingers and puts it beside his face. "I'm a pretty boy, aren't I?"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"It's a peace sign, duh? But I am a pretty boy, hehe. Just like what the the the uh, pretty girl says. What's her name?"

"Nyma?"

"Yeah! Nyma!" Keith laughs. "What a great name."

He pulls out the piece of paper Nyma had given to her earlier and tears it into tiny pieces before he passes out.


	6. Chapter 6

"Fuck."

Keith heaves a breath as he slowly sits up from the floor. De ja vu? He must've fallen off of his couch while he was asleep. The short boy feels his breath being constricted because stupid Keith strikes yet again; he slept with his binder still on. He feels his head ache due to his hang-over. He swipes the beads of sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. 

"Rise and shine, Keith!" Lance greets.

"You—" he coughs. "Don't you mean bike boy?"

"Oh, you remebered. I was hoping you weren't an asshole when you wake up. Guess I was wrong."

"Yeah, no shit." He coughs. "Fuck, what happened last night?"

"You, sir, got wasted."

Keith looks across the room and sees five cans of beer scattered all over the floor. He runs a gloved hand through his hair, then frowns when his headache gets worse.

"Don't you have work?"

"I'm. . ." He says. "I'm-I'm," he gags.

Keith gets up then sprints towards the bathroom. He opens the toilet then vomits. He finally stops and sits down on the floor, head leaning againts the wall. The pain in his chest gets worse with every move he makes. He needs to take his binder off.

"Hey, asshole!" Keith calls. "You in the living room?"

"I'm right beside—"

"Geez!" He starts. "You scared the shit out of me. What did I say about not following me to the bathroom?"

"Well, you're technically not taking a bath so I figured it was okay."

"Well, step out. I'm going to bath now."

"Try not to bump your drunk head while you're at   
it." 

"I'll try my best."

He feels a cold wind slightly blow towards the living room and he guesses that it was Lance stepping out of the bathroom. With all the strength he has left, he stands up and closes the door. He takes a deep breath and takes his shirt off, his binder next. Keith sighs in relief as he sits back down on the floor, his shirt against him to cover his chest. He really needs to take care of his health. Sleeping in a binder is very dangerous. He stands up and steps in the bath tub, opens the shower, and begins taking a bath. Good thing he has clean clothes hanged beside his towel. He can't just step out in a towel now, can he? Lance will know and he has to hear him talk about it for hours. He finishes, dries off, then wears his fresh clothes.

"You still alive there?" Lance asks from the door. 

"Are you?" Keith spits into the drain.

"Oh, haha." He paused. "Aren't you gonna meet up with Hunk and Pidge?"

"Not until later for our group project. Why?"

"I just. . .you know, miss them. It's nice to see them smiling and not worrying about me."

Keith shakes his head, "They think you're still alive."

"I know." 

After a long silence, Keith hangs his used binder beside his towel. He's not wearing a binder now, he can't risk that. Someone should give him a medal because despite his migrane, he was able to take a bath. He can't even recall most of the things he was rambling about last night. Keith steps out the bathroom.

"Keith," Lance calls from the couch.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to listen, please?"

Keith rubs his face, "Is this about me helping you? Because I think that's far from happening now that I know who you really are."

"Just listen to what I have to say."

"And why should I?"

"Because. . .you know what it's like to be bullied."

Keith frowns, "What's that gotta do with what you need?"

"Believe it or not, in my first year of high school, I got bullied a lot. Especially by Andrew."

"What? Aren't you guys friends?"

"I had no choice but to be friends with him somewhere along the way just so I could stop going home with bruises on my face. But I know he never really liked me, not even as a human being. No wonder he did what he had done to cause my death."

His eyes widens, "Andrew. . .murdered you?!"

"Well, yes and no."

"What?"

"You gotta promise me that you'll help me first?"

"Okay, see," Keith faces to his right, assuming that that's where Lance is. "I need to know the whole story if I am going to help you. I don't even know where do you need my help with."

"If I tell you, will you help me?"

"If I do, will you leave?"

"Main reason why I need your help. I'm sick and tired of uselessly floating around people who are stupid and doesn't realise how lucky they are to be alive. I want to go to the other side, where "peace" is a thing. I don't wanna see Hunk and Pidge anymore because I can't hang out with them as I did before and it HURTS! Do you have any idea how that feels?!"

Keith stares at where Lance must be standing while coughing. Suddenly, Keith's phone rings and he scrambles to the couch to retrieve it. He sighs in exasperation when he sees the caller I.D.

"Hello?" 

"Camille," Aunt Flora says, a little to harshly. "Where are you? You're supposed to meet me here at the hospital."

Keith's mouth drops. What day is it today? He can't believe that he forgot that he's supposed to visit his mother. What kind of son is he?

"Oh—I-uh, I'm on my way, Aunt Flora. I have to hang up now, bye!"

"Cami—"

Keith pinches the bridge of his nose, thinking how stupid he was for forgetting. Shiro already knows why he can't show up for work today, even though it's a saturday, because Keith already informed him that he visits his mother at that time. Now he has to show up while hung-over. He fixes his hair, then grabs his shoulder bag while putting his shoes on.

"Hey, where are you going?" Lance asks beside him. "To Hunk and Pidge?"

Keith shakes his head, "I'm meeting up with my Aunt at the hospital. Are you going with me?"

"Wherever you go, I go."

He sighs. "Whatever you hear from my Aunt, never talk about it, 'kay?"

"If that makes you less of an asshole, then okay."

Keith rolls his eyes, then leaves.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - -- --- --- - -

 

Keith rubs his right cheek, where Aunt Flora had just slapped him for being late and for dismissing her on the phone earlier.

"This woman is so intimidating." Lance murmurs. "Why does she treat you like this?"

"Let's just say that Aunt Flora and I don't exactly agree on a lot of terms."

Aunt Flora and Keith enters the hospital room. She sits down on a chair beside the bed while Keith leans his back against the wall.

"Look at your mother, Camille." She says. "Do you wonder if she'll ever wake up?"

"Uh, who's Camille?" Lance whispers.

Keith clenches his jaw. "I don't, because I know she will."

She laughs, "You're so innocent. You still think you can handle everything by your way, don't you? Grow up, Camille. Someday, you're gonna realize that you've been wrong this whole time. Think about it. If you stop being so dillusional and stop wanting to be a boy, I could've taken you in as my own child. Then, buy you elegant dresses, make-up and all kinds of things you should be using. You know, not. . ." She makes a face, then points at Keith's clothes. ". . THAT."

He forces a wide smile on his face."I really appreciate your kindness, Aunt Flora, but I'm afraid I wouldn't ever agree to be your own child, regardless of whatever gender you see consider me to be."

"Oh, really? And why is that?"

"Because I have my own mother."

"You're so silly. She can't take care of you, not when she's like this."

"Believe what you want to believe, Aunt Flora. For now, I have to go."

"How dare you act so boldly infront of me?!"

"Because," He smirks. "I'm Keith Kogane."

He turns the door knob, then leaves.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

"STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!"

Keith pounds his head with both of his fists. Why the hell did he acted so "boldly" towards Aunt Flora?! Maybe it's because he's still drunk? Or simply because he's so damn stupid! Oh, she's gonna kill him, Keith just knows it. He cursed under his breath as he steps into the café, amused of how there are a lot of customers at this time in the morning. 

"Heyyyy. . .??" Shiro greets as he raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

"I got out early. I'm gonna take my shift now."

"But it's still Mark's shift behind the counter."

"Oh, that's fine. I'm just gonna help out by cleaning then."

"Alright." Shiro says as he pats his back twice.

 

Wiping his hands on his apron, Keith lifts a box off a shelve in the stock room. He coughs into his hand, then sniffs twice. 

"Sooo. . ." Lance starts and Keith almost had a heart attack because he forgot he was there. "Ummm. . .about what your Aunt said—"

"I thought we agreed that we won't ever talk about what you heard from her?"

"—yeah, but, uh. . .I didn't know. . ."

"What? That I'm not exactly a boy?"

"I never said that."

"Yeah, but that's what you're implying. The truth's out and now you know. So what? Just don't ever speak about it."

"Right. . .sorry." he paused. "But I do think you're a pretty boy."

Keith scoffed.

"Yeah, I do!"

"Don't make me laugh." He smirks.

"I'm serious, no joke."

Keith puts the box back onto the shelve after examining its contents. He dusts of his hands and grabs the garbage bag full of unwanted materials then exists the room.

"Well," Keith sniffs. "I think you're a pretty brunette yourself."

Lance gasps and Keith imagines him putting a hand to his chest as he did. "Pretty? I am GORGEOUS!"

Keith chuckles with the shake of his head. He goes out of the café through the back door and dumps the garbage bag into the bin. He goes back in and saunters towards the counter and that's when his whole body freezes.

 

Holy crap.

 

Andrew is here together with his group.

 

"Oh, holy shit." Lance shouts. "It's him! I swear, if only I could punch him, I would do it right—"

"Ssshhh!!!" Keith grits his teeth. "We've gotta get outta here."

"You mean YOU gotta get out of here."

Keith bows his head and pulls his cap closer to his face. When he peeks over it, he can see Andrew staring at him from where he's sitting at a table.

"Code red! Code red!" Lance shouts. "Man, you gotta get out of here, now! You better start running!"

"Will you shut the fuck up?! You're making me more nervous than I already am."

"Look man, you gotta run! Unless you wanna be dead meat."

The short boy curses under his breath then slowly starts walking towards the doors, the same time where Andrew stands up along with his friends. As soon as Keith got through the doors, he makes a run for it.

"That's right!" Lance shouts. "Go, go, go! They're just right behind you!"

Keith runs as fast as he can, the air wipping his hair back. He takes off his apron and cap and cluthches it tightly in one hand. It wouldn't be good for the image of the café if one of its employees is being chased by a group of RABID teenage boys. He turns to his left, then jumps over a no parking sign in the middle of the sidewalk. People whom he ran passed through gave him annoyed looks. But did he care? No, because he is currently running for his life!!

"Keith!" Lance shouts. "Go cross the street!"

"What? The lights are red. You can't cross the street if they're still red. Unless you want me to get run over by a damn car!"

"Trust me."

Keith looks over his shoulder and is relieved to see that Andrew and the others are in a comfortable distance rather than just a hand's reach behind him. He debates wether he should cross the street or not.

"Fuck it." 

He runs as he crosses the street and screams when a car almost hit him. Even Lance screamed. Eventually, Keith was abke to make it onto the sidewalk without anymore complications.

"Hide into the alleyway just around the corner." The ghost says.

Keith looks behind his shoulder again, but when he turns back, he's met with a fist to his face. The short boy falls down and is immediately picked up by two boys, hooking their arms with his so he can't break free. They drag him into another alleyway just near the one Lance had said Keith should hide in.

"Shit! Keith, are you okay?" The ghost asks in a frantic voice.

Keith grunts as he tries to break free, "Does it look like I'm okay?!"

"Uh. . .man. What could I do to help?"

"Oh, I know," Keith swings his legs infront of him to try to stop the two boys from dragging him further into the alleyway. "How about singing me a damn lullaby? DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I KNOW?!"

"Shut up!" One of them says, then punches him in the gut, making him go limp. "Okay, this guy is crazy, man. He's talking to himself!"

"Just help me drag him just like what Drew told us to do."

"Aw, fuck!" Lance exclaims. "I know how this goes. They're gonna beat the shit out of you!"

"Yeah," he coughs. "No shit."

They finally stop when they got into the said place and they pull Keith to stand up, but they grip his arms tighter.

"Hey, Keithy-boy!" Andrew approaches him. "What a pleasant surprise. I never thought that I'd ran into you. Small world, eh?"

"Motherfucker," Lance spits.

Keith just glared at Andrew.

"You really think that you could keep running away from me forever?" He chuckles, then brings a hand up containing his apron and cap from the café. "Oh, and you dropped this. Nice place you got there, huh? I bet that's where you were planning to take my girl on a date."

"I told you that I don't want anything from Becka—"

"Don't you dare say her name like she's yours!"

"What the fuck? What am I supposed to call her?"

"You don't," Andrew spits. "You don't. Don't look at her, don't speak to her, and don't you ever touch her."

"She was the one approaching me!"

"Because she pities a loser like you!"

"Bullshit!" 

Andrew nods at one of the boys holding him, then Keith gets punched in the gut again, a lot harder this time. His knees buckles underneath him because of the pain, then he coughs.

"Stop hurting him!" Lance shouts. "I swear, if you lay one finger on him—"

"I warned you once, Keithy-boy." Andrew steps closer and crouches down so he could talk infront of Keith's face. "But you didn't listen. So, you leave me no choice but to teach you a lesson." He grabs his chin with one hand and Keith tried to get his grip off but he fails. "You can say good bye to that pretty face of yours because when I'm done, you'll be covered in blood and bruises."

"Fuck you." Keith spits at his face which earned him a hard punch on his nose. He screams at the pain.

"Stop it!" The ghost shrieks. "Stop it! Don't you dare! I'll haunt you all! You'll be sorry! You'll be so fucking sorry! Let go of him!"

Andrew asks for a bat from one of his groupmates standing beside him and waves it in the air. "Wooh! Imagine how it must it feel like getting hit with this. You're about to find out."

Keith grits his teeth and watches Andrew swing the bat, then his vision blurs from the impact on his face.

"Hey! Stop it!" Lance screams. "Fucking stop!"

He gets hit again.

"Goddess, stop!"

Another hit and Keith feels blood trickling down from his nose and from his forehead. Some of it goes through his open mouth as he pants. Andrew raises his bat once more and Lance begs him to stop yet again. When Andrew gets ready for the next swing, someone grabs the bat from behind, making him unable to bring it down.

"What the—?"

"Hit him one more time," Shiro whispers to his ear. "And I'll make sure you won't have to see him anytime soon because you'll be in the hospital with massive injuries. Wanna see what this prosthetic arm can do, kid?"

Gripping the bat with his prosthetic, he kicks Andrew, making the latter let go of the bat and fall to his knees infront of Keith.

"Yeah! Beat him up!" Lance cheers. "Beat him up! Give him a bloody nose."

"Who the hell are you?!" Andrew stands up with an angered face.

"Shiro," Keith says beneath his breath.

The man breaks the bat into two by hitting it with his knee. He throws it infront of a terrified Andrew. 

"Aw, what?! You're not gonna beat him up?" Lance says.

"Get lost," Shiro says through grit teeth. "And don't bother him again or I'm gonna break you into to two just like I did with your bat."

The boys lets go of Keith and runs towards their group. Andrew looks at Shiro, then at Keith, then back at Shiro before he follows his group out of the alleyway.

"Oh, and by the way," Shiro points at Andrew. "Your fly is open."

Andrew blushed, then runs out of the alleyway.

Lance laughs out loud, making Keith join him. The short boy tries to wipe the blood off his nose but it's flowing rapidly. He just laughs and laughs while kneeling down on the ground, blood falling down from his face and onto the concrete. Suddenly, his laughs turns into tears, and he cries and he cries. Shiro kneels down before him and puts a hand on his back. Lance had stopped laughing.

"Hey, you're okay. I'm here." Shiro says in a small and calm voice. "Don't worry, they're gone."

Keith sniffs as he looks up at him through his blurry eyes, then hugs him. The man hugs him back.

"It's okay, it's okay."

"T-they were g-gonna beat me to death, Shiro." He says through sobs. "And there was nothing I could do about it except kneel there like a wimp and wait for him to stop."

"It's okay, it's okay. It's over, you're okay. Just calm down so we can go back to the café to patch you up."

Keith buries his bloody face against Shiro's chest as he sobs more. He kinda feels sorry for ruining his white sweater with his blood and tears. If Shiro is concerned about the stains, he doesn't complain. Instead, he strokes Keith's hair to help him calm down. They stay like that for a long time and Lance didn't say a word.


	7. Chapter 7

The café is mostly empty now that the sun is down and the moon shines brightly up at the sky. Keith leans his head against the glass window where he sits on one of the tables in the café. His nose stopped bleeding and thank goodness that it wasn't broken, but it still hurts like hell. Bruises popped up mostly on the left side of his face and the corners of his left eye began to swell moments ago. A patch of cotton is taped on the upper left corner of his forehead where most of the blood was coming off earlier. All in all, he feels like shit. Ten times worse. The short boy presses an ice bag against his left cheek as Shiro approaches him.

"Hey," The buff man greets as he sits down at the chair oppositte to him. "Feeling better?"

". . .yeah." Keith says weakly.

"Keith, I thought you said nothing was going on, that no one was bothering you. Why didn't you tell me?"

The short boy just shakes his head.

"Keith, you always tell me everything. What makes this any different?"

"I-I, I don't know. My head's just been up in the clouds lately."

"Why?"

"Like I said, I don't know."

Shiro crosses his arms, "You still didn't tell me about this."

"I thought I could handle it myself. Plus, it's not that much of a big deal."

"Until now."

". . .well. . .yeah. Thanks again for helping me out, Shiro. How did you know that I was in danger?"

"I was looking for you so you could help me out in carrying things. I couldn't find you so I asked Mark. He said you suddenly left and a group of guys came right after you. He thought they were your friends or something, but it doesn't sound like it to me. So, I knew something was up."

"Thanks, again."

"Don't mention it." Shiro stands up. "Now, wait here a few minutes and I'm taking you home with me."

"What?!" Keith removes the ice bag from his cheek."Shiro, you don't have to—"

"Oh, I want to. There's no way I'm leaving you alone, not after what happened. Who knows what else you're keeping from me that could put you in furthermore danger. So, stay here and give me a few minutes to pack things up for the night, then I'll drive you back at my place."

"But—"

"No arguements!" Shiro frowns then points a finger. "You're like a brother to me. There is no way I'd let anything happen to you. So please, just let me do this."

Keith stares up at him with wide eyes from what Shiro just said. They stare into each other's eyes for a long moment before Keith slowly nods his head. 

Shiro smiles, "Thank you." He walks away.

Keith blinks several times before he puts back the ice bag on his cheek. He pulls out his phone to find several text messages from Hunk and Pidge. The majority came from the latter, asking why he didn't showed up for their group project earlier. He cursed under his breath before replying that he's sorry and that he had a messy encounter with "you know who". They instantly reply back, asking if he was okay. He smiles. Who wonders what did he do to deserve these two friends. The short boy replies that he's fine. He puts his phone back into his pocket and stares at the table infront of him.

Keith clears his throat, "Lance? You okay?"

 

Silence.

 

"Lance?"

 

No reply.

 

Keith coughs into his hand, then, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Are you o—Keith!" Lance shouts. "I should be asking you that. You got bruises all over your face and you're the one asking me if I'm okay?!"

"Well. . .yes."

"Why?"

"Because," he stares at the seat infront of him, assuming that's where the ghost is. "You were forced to witness me getting beaten up by the guy you hate and you had nothing to do about it when clearly you wanted it stop." He paused, then, "But why though? Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Ppfft!" He imagines that Lance had waved a dismissive hand. "Change of heart? I didn't want the only person who could help me die. How else will I go to the other side?"

"Ah, I see."

". . .but. . .yeah. I guess I really didn't want them to hurt you."

"Why?"

"Because. . .because, I know what it's like."

". . .oh. Is that how you died?"

"No. Just beaten up pretty bad."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that." He paused, then,"I think I know why out of all people who you know, I'm the only one that could hear you."

"You do?"

"Just a guess." He coughs then sniffs. "Maybe it's because we're both alike? We've been through the same thing?"

Lance ponders. "Hmm. . .that. . .sounds crazy but I'll take it."

"Everything's going crazy. . .you know what Lance?"

"What?"

"I'll do it."

"Do what?"

"I'll help you."

Lance gasps, "Really?! No shit?!"

"No shit. . .I'll help you. Where do you need my help?"

Lance takes the moment to start whooping and cheering loudly. A faint wind starts blowing from different directions and Keith guesses that the ghost is dancing in the air right now. 

"Are you done yet?"

"Hold on. I'm about to dab and it's gonna be—"

"Keith," Shiro calls with keys in hand, Keith's shoulder bag and a backpack. "Let's go. I'm locking up the place."

"Okay." He stands up then whispers to Lance "We'll talk later."

"Mmmkay! Let me continue my happy dance for a while."

Keith can only smile.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Take the bed."

"No."

"Keith," Shiro puts both of his hands on his hips. "Take the bed."

He coughs, "No, Shiro. I'm fine with sleeping on the couch." As if to prove his point, he shifts his position to show him that he's comfortable on the sofa. "See? Fine."

The buff man grabs Keith's ankles, making the latter yelp. "Take. The. Bed."

Keith groans. "Look, Shiro. I don't wanna bother you and ruin your rest, okay? So, please. Let me sleep on the couch."

Shiro crosses his arms as he thinks for a bit. "Fine."

"Finally! Thanks for the food, too. Man, I am stuffed that I can just—HEY!"

Shiro scoops Keith up into his arms, then hoists him up higher so he could carry him up the stairs and into his room.

"What the hell?! Put me down! Shiro! C'mon!"

Despite his complaints, Shiro continues climbing up the stairs. Soon, he arrives at the bedroom then gently puts Keith down on the bed.

"There you go." Shiro tucks him in with a teasing smile. "Isn't it nice to have things my way?"

"Your way sucks."

"Now that is no way to talk to your boss."

"Whatever, dad."

"Okay, one; don't call me dad. Two; go to sleep."

"Sure thing." He paused, then smirked. "DAD."

"Ugh. . .tell me if you need anything, 'kay?"

"Yeah. . .Thanks a lot, Shiro. You're too nice to me. I don't deserve it."

"You do." Shiro smiles then saunters towards the door. He closes the light. "Good night, Keith."

"G'd night, Shiro."

He closes the door.

"Aw, ain't he a cinnamon roll? Insert heart emoji." Lance says beside Keith on the other side of the bed. "I'd kill to have him as my brother, or father. . .maybe a lover as well."

Keith laughs nervously.

"Hahaha! I'm just kidding. But seriously though, you will help me? Regardless of what task I'd request you with?"

Keith turns to where Lance is so he can be face-to-face without the face. . .wait, how does that work? He just knows Lance is there because he can feel a cold presence infront of him.

"Woah, you are super close there, buddy. Personal space."

"Lance. I'll help you. What do you want me to do?"

"Cool, cool. This is sweet. Uh, wait, no take backs!"

Keith rolls his eyes, "Yes, Lance. No take backs."

"Promise?"

"Ugh, promise."

"Pinky swear me."

"Are you fucking kidding me??"

"Not that kind of swear."

"I promise, Lance. You have my word. Now, do you want my help or not?"

"I need it."

"Then tell me what I have to do."

"I need you to. . ."

"What?"

". . .to find my body."

Keith widens his eyes, "Oh my goddess."

"Yep."

"How the—okay," Keith sits up. "You're telling me that you need me to find your body."

"Uh-huh."

"But you know where it is yourself?"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell do you still need me to find your body?!"

"A proper burial with my loved ones as my witness is all I ask for me to go in peace."

"Okay, okay. But, it's been three months since you were gone. Your body has gotta be decomposed a long time ago."

"The funny thing is, it hasn't. The body remains if the spirit still lives."

"Okay?" Keith frowns, then, "Where did you die?"

"Same place we went on a camping trip."

Keith's jaw drops, "That's like, how many hours away!"

"Oh, sorry. Should have I died in a near parking lot or something?"

"I don't think—you can do that?"

"Cheeses, Keith. I was being sarcastic!"

". . .oh." He rubs his face."What am I gonna say to Hunk and Pidge, huh? They still think you're alive. If I tell them that you're dead, they'll think I'm pulling some kind of a sick joke."

"Then tell them the truth. That you can hear me. I'll back you up."

"How am I supposed to tell this to the police? I can't just randomly go there and say, "Hey! I know where the boy you've been looking for is! He's actually dead and I know where his body is!" That's just stupid."

"I've thought of that ever since the day you've heard me, and I have my solution."

"What is it?"

"Get Andrew."

"Oh, him? Why?"

"Uh, hello? Cause of death?"

"Oh, sorry if I haven't known. You haven't told me the whole story of how you died yet."

He sighs, "Well, now that you've promised that you'll help me, I guess it seems fitting to tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Supposed to be that Lance's death is revealed here but I've decided to make a whole chapter about it instead. Maybe it'll me a few days before I finish it, but I'll try to update as soon as I can. :-) Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it everyone. I hope Lance's story live up to your expectations. Tell me what you think about Lance's death; if it was good or if you were dissappointed with how I plotted it out. Ehehehe XD Enjoy!

Maybe he shouldn't have done that to Keith.

Lance thought as he tossed the water bottle away. He feels this twisting knot of guilt in his stomach from remembering how he poured the water on Keith's peaceful sleeping face and how it entered tinto his nose. He feels super guilty and he wishes to appoligize. Of course, Andrew wouldn't like it if he heard that he had come to meet bike boy personally and had said sorry to him.

"M-maybe," Lance blurts as they walk further away from Keith's cabin. "Maybe it wasn't all that necessary to wake him up like that."

Andrew scoff, "Then how were we supposed to wake up him up? "Oh, honey!"" He sings. "Wake up before Mr. Iverson kicks your ass." Is that what you had in mind?"

"Well, not really, but—"

Andrew elbows him in the gut, making Lance go "oof!".

"Hahaha! See? No, the answer is no. Isn't it funny, bro?"

Lance rubs his stomach as he glares at the back of his head, "Haha. I guess so, BRO."

"Why do you call him bike boy anyway?"

"Oh, it happened one day in class. You were absent in the morning so you weren't there. It's because the kid came late for Mr. Iverson's class and said he had a bike problem. He sent him for detention, then called him bike boy."

Andrew stops walking toward the assembly area to laugh out loud. Lance chuckles along.

"Oh, man! He's such a loser. He reminds me of you."

Lance's chuckling dies. "Huh?"

"Both of you guys are losers. You're just really smart to befriend me, Lance." He walks off. Lance frowned at the man's retreating back before he follows him.

"Hey, babe." Andrew puts an arm around Becka's shoulders. "'Morning."

She shrugs his arm off. "I'm still mad at you."

"Oh, come on, babe. I was just asking for that girl's number yesterday for our group project."

"You never do group projects, remember?! Why won't you just admit that you were hitting on another girl and just say you're sorry?!"

"Wha—? I'm telling you, there was nothing—"

"Oh please!" She throws her hands up in the air. "Andrew, stop with the lies al—"

"Hey!" Andrew grabs her by the neck. "You better drop your drama, you worthless piece of crap!"

"Let go of me!" Becka shouts.

"You're lucky we're out in the open, so I can't land a punch on your face!" He whispered into her ear, but Lance was close enough to hear him.

Lance puts a hand on Andrew's shoulder, "Hey, man. Calm down. People are staring at you. Plus, I know you don't wanna hurt her."

The angered teen loosens his grip on Becka's neck and she quickly backs away from him with eyes full of tears. She wipes them away with the back of her hand as she runs towards her friends at the center of the assembly area.

Lance frowns. "You'll land a punch on her?"

"None of your business, McClain."

"Is this what you do to her? Trapping her in an unhealthy relationship?"

"I said it's none of your business!" He points a finger directly at his face. "Better know your boundaries unless you want me to beat you up like I did before."

"Alright, alright." He puts his hands up. "I'm sure Becka will understand eventually what you were saying to her. Calm down."

Andrew glares at him before crossing his arms, then stands up straight beside him.

Lance looks to his left and finds everyone else is staring at the two of them. He just clears his throat and jams his hands into his pockets. Suddenly, someone taps his shoulder. He smiles when he sees that it was Hunk.

"Hunk, my man! What's up?"

"Cool. What about you? You okay there with. . .you know who?"

The brunette darts his eye to his right, where Andrew is talking to one of their friends from their group.

"It's good," he nods. "Just minor misunderstandings."

"You know, you could always come back to us. Pidge and I are getting more worried the longer you hang out with," Hunk frowns, "HIM."

"Hunk, you know why I'm doing this, right? It's for all our own good."

"No, it's not Lance." Pidge says as they approache them. "The more you hang out with him, the more danger you're putting yourself in. He's an unstable human that has mental breakdowns or something like that. Especially around Becka."

"Yeah, Lance." Hunk agrees with a nod. "You should avoid him."

"I'm fine!" He says frustratingly in a hushed tone. "It's none of your concern! I don't need your help. I'm having more fun now than I am with the two of you. So, just GO."

Pidge frowns while Hunk has this sad look on his face, more of a disappointed one. Lance just wants them to be far away from him as possible, so Drew won't hurt them. He doesn't want them to get involved of whatever shit that Lance puts himself in. 

"Sometimes I wonder who's the real bully here, Lance." Pidge says with venom in her words. "Lets go, Hunk."

As they walk off, Lance sighs. 

"Good morning, campers!" Mr. Iverson greets, stepping on top of a tree stump near the center of the assembly area. Lance snickers at the boy scout uniform he's wearing, especially the cowboy hat to top it all off. "Had a good night's rest last night?"

The students groan, implying that it wasn't all that good. Of course it wouldn't be. There were dozens of bugs swarming all around this place!

"Well, I couldn't care less. So, in this camping trip, we have to have the full experience. Being out in the forest only means one thing; survival. To achieve this, we have to work as a team. I'll be forming all of you into different groups. Once I call your name, go to your group mates."

Their names were called and Lance and Andrew ended up in the same group where they're tasked to go hunt for food. Hunk and Pidge at the cooking group, and Becka and Keith in—

Lance freezes.

 

Becka and Keith?

 

Oh, no.

 

The brunette looks at Andrew, and no doubt, his face has jealousy written all over it. Anxiety spreads out in his chest as he sees Keith walking towards the assembly area, and oh man! Drew is bearing holes into the kid's skull. As Mr. Iverson finished announcing, they gather around their respecrive groups. Lance witnesses Becka talk to Keith and Lance can feel a weird tingling feeling in his chest. It's kinda sour and it bothers him. He can't define it. Maybe it's just that he's scared of the tension building up between Andrew and Keith.  
As Becka, Keith and their groupmates starts to walk off into the opposite direction, Keith looks over his shoulder and Lance can tell that Keith knows that Andrew is glaring at him. The short boy just shrugs it off.

Lance puts a hand on Andrew's shoulder. "You alright?"

He shrugs him off, "Shut up."

The brunette rolls his eyes, then joins his group to go hunting for some food.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Maybe you should just ignore that short guy you're always after." One of the boy's from Andrew's group says. "Honestly, he's just wasting our time."

They're all sitting on a log, others remained standing. They just came from their hunting trip and are now waiting for the food to be finished being cooked. 

"He's right. Drew." Lance yawns. "He's not really worth our time."

"I get to decide in this group, nobody else. So, if I say we bother Keithy-boy, we do. And If I say we beat him up, we do."

"That's unreasonable." Lance says and suddenly, Drew's whole group was looking at him. He feels tension rising up in his chest as Andrew glares at him.

He stands up, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is there something you wanna say to me, McClain? You know, you've been starting to get into my nerves lately."

Lance debates wether he should talk back or appologize. He goes with the latter.

"Sorry, that was wrong of me." He puts his hands up. "I make my mistakes, 'kay? Let me off the hook."

"Hey, everyone!" Pidge shouts while waving their hands up in the air. "Food is ready!" The other students immediately walks towards the asembly area where food will be passed down. Even Andrew's group left the two of them.

Andrew stares at Lance with furrowed brows before he turns his head to his left then suddenly grits his teeth. Lance follows his gaze and —

Oh no.

 

He's glaring at Keith, who had just sat down with his dinner in one hand on a tree stump a few walks away from everyone else.

Lance closed his eyes, "Andrew, don't man."

The blonde teen saunters towards him anyway. Lance shakes his head, then stands up. He doesn't understand why he wants to stop Andrew from harming this kid. Why is he any different from the other people he's been bullying? He doesn't know, but what he does know is that he has to stop Andrew.

 

". . .you talking about?" He hears Keith says as he got near. He hides behind a tree near the two of them.

"You know what the hell I'm talking about. You and Becka!"

Lance flinched at the sound of Drew's voice.

"What about it? She approached me and we were in the same group. What the hell is your problem?"

"Becka is mine. She's my girl. Don't talk to her, don't look at her and don't you ever ever touch her."

"Hey, I don't want anything to do with "your girl", okay? If she's really your girl then she must see things that I can't because I seriously don't know what she sees in you for you to be her boyfriend."

"Keith," Lance says under his breath. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"You better watch your mouth or I'm gonna rip it out and make sure you do."

"Drew."

Both Keith and Andrew turn their attention to him as he steps out from behind the tree. When Keith lands his eyes on him, he immediately rolls them. Like? He's trying to help you and you have the guts to just roll your pretty eyes? C'mon!

"Drew, what the hell are you doing? The boys are waiting at the back, I thought you said you'd be there?" Lance says, he's nerves rattling.

"I will be," he looks at Keith. "Just trying to make sure we're clear on some things."

Keith scoffs, "woop-dee-fucking-doo."

Oh my goddess, Keith.

"Hey! I said—"

"Cut the crap Andrew!" Lance shouts much on both boy's surprise. Oh, this gonna be the death of him. "You're wasting our time on the shit that you do, man. Come on and drag your ass out there."

Andrew and him both have a quiet but deadly staredown while Keith just continues in finishing his dinner. Finally, Andrew walks past him, intentionally bumping his shoulder to his. Lance makes eye contact to Keith with a look saying "you're welcome", then he leaves.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

It's past their bed time and Lance is still sitting on a log away from the campsite. He's not too far out, but not too near either. He looks up at the stary night sky and a faint smile touches upon his lips as he remembers his family waiting for him to come back home after this camping trip. Suddenly, one of Andrew's boys came into his view, staring right down on him.

"Why didn't you showed up earlier at the back? We were waiting for Drew, and when he showed up, you disappeared."

Lance laughs nervously, "Sorry. I wasn't feeling too good earlier so I thought I'd sit this one out." When Lance stands up to face him, he realizes that it wasn't just one person from Andrew's group, but about six of them.

Oh, no.

"He wants to speak to you."

"How about in the morning? It's really late and I should probably—"

He gets punched in the gut, making him drop onto his knees. One of them grabs him by the collar of his shirt and starts dragging him deeper into the forest. 

"Hey! Let me go!" Lance kicks his feet out. "Stop it!"

"Shut up!" Another guy kicks him on the side of his stomach. 

Finally, they stop and they throw him forward onto the dirty ground. Lance coughs twice, then stands up to meet Andrew who's standing infront of him.

"Well, what da ya know, McClain. I didn't know you were still awake. Nice to see you in this late hour." Andrew says with a smile.

"If you're planning to beat me up again, I swear that you won't get away with it this time, you motherfucker."

"Oh! I just love it when they have a big mouth! Don't worry, think of this as a lesson instead of a beating."

"What? Are we in class right now?"

"Your sarcasm can't cover your fear, McClain. You're so scared right now that I can smell it."

"Are you saying that you're a dog? They have keen sense of smell, which makes sense since I've always thought that you were an animal."

"Hey!" Andrew shouts as he points a finger to his face. "You better watch your mouth! You're lucky I even accepted you in this group."

"I only joined so you could stop—," Lance pushes him away. "—fucking with me, you asshole! But clearly it didn't work. You bully people just to make you feel better about yourself, right? You low life! And to add to that, you forced Becka to be your girlfriend and I'm telling you that that's PATHETIC!"

"Hey! I didn't force her—"

"You did! You do these horrible things just to cover your stupidity! To cover of how much of a creep you are! You stupid son of a—oof!"

Andrew punches him in the stomach and Lance falls to his knees, clutching his abdomen tightly. The blonde teen kicks him over and over to his side until Lance coughs out blood. Suddenly, he stops, and the whole place falls into silence.

"Did you hear that?" One of Andrew's friends asks. 

Lance tries to listen despite the pain on—his eyes widens. He hears. . .

 

Growling.

 

Holy crap.

 

At their right, the bush starts russtling. The group slowly backs away from it, giving Lance the opportunity to lift himself up a little. Andrew seems to be frozen into place when a figure suddenly emerges from the bush. Lance squints, unable to see whatever it is from how dark the night is.

"Run." One of them mumbled.

"Holy shit."

"What the fuck is that?"

"I think we should run."

 

The growling grows louder and Lance realizes that it isn't just from one source, but there are two of them.

 

Another growl.

 

Make it three then.

 

"RUN!" 

 

Andrew's friends starts running back to the camp. When Lance tries to fully stand up, Drew pushes him, making him fall back down. Then, he runs away. Lance cursed under his breath and stands up again. Dread fills his heaving chest. His forehead is filled with beads of sweat and his heart is beating so fast that he swears it just might jump out of his—the figure suddenly moves.

 

Oh, holy shit!

 

It's a wolf! And they're three of them!

 

Lance makes a run for it, but not towards the camp though. Instead, he goes deeper into the forest. He doesn't care where he's going as long as he keeps on running, and he's running for his life! When he hears the sound of growling and the sound of little feet behind him, it drove Lance to run faster, but it's too dark that he doesn't know where he's going. He curses under his breath. Well, he guesses that he can't really blame anyone else for putting him in this situation but himself. Hunk and Pidge were right. He puts himself in danger for hanging out longer with Andrew. Ah, Andrew, the douchebag.

 

He trips and falls, but picks himself back up then starts running again.

 

He can hear his fast heart beat pouding in his ears, he can feel his legs burn from all the running, and he can feel himself tire. Like he wants to stop,but if he does—

Lance steps onto nothing.

 

He falls from what feels like a very high edge. He rolls down, causing his body to cover in dirt. He can hear the growling from far away, until he can't here them at all as he continues rolling. He hits a boulder, making him grunt, then he falls from the edge again. He screams because he feels like he's falling into nothingness and that—

He hits the ground.

Lance dies.


	9. Chapter 9

"And that's how I died." Lance says.

There'a long pause between the two of them before Keith suddenly speaks.

"Are you saying. . .you like me?"

 

Silence.

 

"I JUST FREAKING TOLD YOU HOW I DIED AND THAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU SAY?!"

Keith blinks once, then twice. He shakes his head as if he had just snapped out of his thoughts. The next thing he does next is something he'll regret in a life time; he cries. Infront of Lance. Wherever he is.

"Keith? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Is there something that I've said?"

He sniffs, "No, just. . .it's kinda. . . sad."!

"That I died?"

"No, not that. You're annoying as fuck, good riddance."

Lance gasps and Keith imagines that he has placed a hand against his chest. Keith laughs out loud despite the the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm just kidding. You know that, right?"

"I guess? Whatever. To be honest, I have the impression that you like to laugh and cry at the same time. It kinda creeps me out."

"Can't help it." He wipes his tears away. "But, yeah. It's kinda sad because all this time, I thought you were such a bad guy when all you were trying to do was to protect me. . .in your own asshole-ish way."

"Protect you? Pssh! I really just wanted to fight back against Andrew. Why would you—"

"Lance."

The ghost stops talking.

"Lance," Keith says again. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Although I haven't met you long enough, but I'm really proud of you. No matter what shit was going on in your life, you go out of your way to help people, to help me. And now you're a ghost, seeking not revenge, but a proper burial with your loved ones as your witnesses. I thank you, Lance."

 

Silence.

 

Keith just sits there, staring at the other side of his bed, assuming that's where Lance is. He drops his gaze onto his lap when the silence stretches longer. He doesn't mind, because it's comfortable, and simply because he knows he's not alone this time. Simply because Lance is here, and knowing he was protecting him from Andrew, Keith feels his heart flutter inside his chest. 

Suddenly, he feels a very cold presence touch his bruised left cheek. Like it was a hand. Keith's eyes widens when he feels another cold thing press against his lips. Like it was something very soft. 

Like it was another pair of lips.

The short boy closes his eyes and relinguishes the odd yet satisfying feeling of cold air against his face. He can feel an electric bolt come running down through his veins and throughout his whole body and it feels fucking amazing. He has never felt more alive. And suddenly, it was gone. The cold lips moves away, aswell as the hand, and Keith feels a sense of sorrow and a wave of lonliness. Keith frowns at the ache in his heart.

"You're. . ." Lance starts in a small voice. ". . .You're so warm."

"And you're so cold."

"Fire and ice?"

"Fire and ice." Keith paused. "Just to be clear, you did just kiss me, right?"

"Oh, goddess. What kind of question is that?!"

"I don't know! Maybe it was just your thumb against my lips?!"

"Omg, you're blushing."

"What?"

"Your face is red! Hahahaha!"

"Shut up! It's just the room temperature!"

"Oh, really now? Then why did Shiro just tuck you in bed if he knows it's hot in here?"

Keith raises his eyebrows, "Huh, nice observation."

"Thanks, but like, uh, yeah. I j-just kissed you. . ."

Keith buries his face into his hands, then groans.

"Oh, shoot!" Lance says. "Crap. I didn't asked if it was okay! Are you cool with it man? I mean, you'd probably be angry with me because a dude kissing a dude. . .eh? Unless you're gay?"

Keith bit his lower lip, ". . .Hella gay."

"No fucking way. Now wonder you blew off Nyma. Well, might aswell say it. I'm dead anyway."

"Say what?"

"I'm bi."

". . .Oh."

"Yeah, oh. But why are you making the kiss such a big deal then?"

The short boy groans into his hands again.

"Unless," Lance gasps. "Unless, I'm your first kiss?!"

Keith sighed, face still buried in his hands.

"This is amazing! I, Lance McClain, get to be pretty Keith Kogane's first kiss! 

"Pretty?" He lifts his head up. 

"What?"

"You just called me pretty."

"No, I didn't."

"You just did."

"Must've slipped out, I guess."

"So, you do like me?" Keith smirks.

"WHAT?! Pssh! Don't flatter yourself."

"You said it so yourself. I think you got jealous when Becka was talking to me back at camp."

"You're out of your mind."

"Whatever you say, but for the record, I like you too."

"I-I w-w-whaaaaaatttt?"

"Yep." Keith turns his back to where he assumes Lance is on the bed. He suddenly takes off his shirt, revealing his black binder.

"Woah, woah, woah! You could've told me to step out or somethin'! What the hell Keith?"

"Don't be such a baby. I just have to take this off before I go to sleep." He coughs then sniffs. "Besides, I trust you enough to just look away now."

"Y-yeah, just look away." Lance mumbles underneath his breath, "If that's even possible."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Keith takes his binder off and immediately puts his shirt back on. He folds his binder then tucks it under the pillow.

"You know, it'll be funny when someone asks me who my first kiss is. I'll say that oh! "It's none other than a GHOST."" Keith chuckles. "That'll be so weird. Do you even consider that a kiss? Like, just cold air against your mouth?"

"I, uh, I guess it depends on however you will take it as, Keith."

"Well, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you consider that as a kiss?"

"Of course I do."

Keith smiles, "It's a kiss then." He paused, "You do realize that I have to tell Hunk and Pidge the whole story, and about me being the only one I could hear you, right?"

"Don't."

"What? Why?"

"It'll be complicated."

"You told me before that I should tell the truth. What made you change your mind?"

"I've realized that it'll cause a lot of trouble if you say that I'm dead and you know how I died. And telling them that you can hear me will take a long time before they'll believe you. Pidge will be all "that's bullshit" on you.Also, there's a high possibility for them to think that you're the cause of my death."

Keith grins, "Ah, and since when did you care, pretty brunette?"

"I just kissed you and you're really gonna ask me that?"

"That kiss could mean anything."

"Whatever. Just tell Hunk and Pidge that you'll help in finding me and I'll point you where, so when they see my body, they'll see that I'm dead with their own eyes. Genious right? I've been thinking about that these past few days."

"Uh-huh. Guess I'll go there at friday night to find your body. I'll be needing a car. I wonder if Shiro will let me borrow his."

"I bet he's coming with you based on his "protective older brother" nature."

"Oh, I hope he doesn't. I can handle this by myself."

"Oh, bud. Trust me, if you let Shiro help you on this one, especially in getting Andrew, you'll be glad."

"Right." Keith lies down and pulls the blanket up to his neck. So, I have to go to work and school with bruises on my face."

"Just wear that hoodie you're so fond of."

"At work? No way. Shiro will kill me."

"Try make-up then."

"Fuck that."

"Unless you want people staring at your face, make-up is your only option."

He yawns, "I'll think about it. G'd night, Lance."

"Good night, Keith."


	10. Chapter 10

Keith sneezes.

 

"Ugh, cover your nose dude!" Lance says beside him on the bed. "That's disgusting."

"What? You're afraid that I get some of my germs on you? You're a ghost, you'll be alright."

"It's still gross."

The door opens, allowing Shiro to enter the room. He's already ready for work, with a grey t-shirt and black pants. The buff man walks to his right to push open the curtains, allowing the blinding sunlight in the once dark room. Keith groans as he squeezes his eyes shut, turning to his side and covering his head with a blanket.

"Wake up, Keith."

He groans.

"C'mon, I'm gonna see if your face looks better."

The short boy coughs, then removes the blanket over his head. When Shiro saw Keith's face, he frowned.

"The bruises are really bad. The cut on your forehead probably would have closed off by now so I'm gonna take the bandage off." He puts a hand gently on Keith's chin to move his face from left to right so he could examine his face further. "Good. Your nose really isn't broken but—" Shiro furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Then, he gently places his hand against Keith's neck, then his forehead. "Aw, Keith. You've got a high fever. You're sick. I knew something was off the past few days when you started coughing."

"Shiro, I'm f-fi-ha-ACHHOO!" Keith sneezes, then sniffs. "I'm fine."

"Ahaha, cute. It doesn't look like it to me. I guess you're gonna have to leave from work today, and also school."

"But, there's this school project I need to make with my friends—" Keith tries to sit up, but Shiro stops him by putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Then I'm sure your friends will understand, right? Now, go lie back down. I'm gonna head over to the café real quick and give Mark some orders. I'll be back after I buy some stuff for you."

"What? You're not going to stay at the café?"

"No, someone's gotta take care of you."

"Shiro, you don't need to—"

"I'll be right back." Shiro steps out of the room then closes the door.

"—do that. . ." Keith sighs, followed by a series of coughs. He pulls the blanket over his bed as he turns to his left side.

"He is such a sweet heart, isn't he? I'm getting jealous."

"Jealous of me having him, or jealous of him having me?"

"Both."

Keith chuckles weakly, "He's just my best friend and my dear brother from another mother. Plus, he's hella straight. So, boohoo."

"Awwwww mmmaaaannnn!!!"

"Indeed."

"I would be all over him if I was still alive."

"Sick, dude."

"What?! Won't you? I'm sure you have."

"NO! What the fuck?!"

"Oh, but I'm sure you've thought about it. I mean, did you see those muscular arms? Oh my goddess, and I bet there's a six pack underneath that fabric."

"My gosh, someone help. I can hear a ghost and he's a pervert."

"Hey, I'm not a pervert, okay? I just like to admire a master piece when I see one."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Open your mouth."

"Woah, there. Atleast take me on a date first."

Shiro's eyes widens and his jaw drops as he stares at Keith with a terrified expression on his face. The hand holding a bowl of soup threatens to give, aswell as the one holding a spoon full of soup for Keith to consume its contents. The buff man sits at the side of the bed, while Keith sits, his back against the head board. Lance is laughing out loud after what Keith had just said, and the look on Shiro's face is just priceless.

"K-K-Keith!! That's—that's—"

"Gay?"

"What?! Keith, shut up!" Shiro blushes. "That is inappropriate!"

The short boy laughs, "Aw man! I'm just kidding man. Made you stutter."

"Shut up and eat the damn soup before I shove it down your throat."

Lance dives in, "What else are you gonna shove down his throat?"

Keith holds back his laughter in what Lance had just said. Instead, his eyebrows pinch together, then he accepts the spoonfull of soup. Shiro feeds him more spoonfulls when all of a sudden, Keith gags.

"Oh, no-no-no!" Shiro stands up. "Not on the bed, Keith! Not on the bed!"

The short boy puts a hand to his mouth, then jumps off the bed. He rushes down the stairs and enters the bathroom. He falls to his knees, opens the toilet then barfs. Shiro enters the bathroom with him, rubbing the short boy's back gently as he continues to vomit.

"Damn, Keith. Your back is damp with sweat. Take your shirt off, now. I'll let you burrow one of mine."

Keith spits and flushes the toilet. "Oh goddess. That was terrible."

"I know. Now, get up, go back upstairs and I'll give you a clean shirt."

Shiro helps him stand up and he guides him up the stairs. As soon as Keith was near the bed, he throws himself on it face first with a grunt. The buff man searched through his drawers for a shirt. When he found a black t-shirt, he threw it on top of Keith.

"Go change. I'll be back with some more water and medicine." Shiro collects the bowl of soup and a half empty glass of water, then leaves

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Keith sits up. His visions starts to spin for a bit so he closes his eyes. Without thinking, he takes his shirt off then—

"Woah. . ." Lance suddenly mumbles somewhere near the doorway. Meaning, he was infront of Keith. 

The short boy furrows his brows as he reaches blindly for Shiro's shirt. "What?"

 

"Uhhmm. . ."

 

Why does his chest feels heavy?

 

Wait.

 

He's not wearing his binder.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Keith pathetically screams like a nine year old who just saw a spider on his shoe. Lance screams aswell.

Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking was heard from down stairs and the sound of someone running up the stairs was heard.

"Keith wha—" As soon as Shiro saw Keith's shirtless state, he quickly turns away, a hand running through his hair. "Keith, what happened? Are you hurt or something?"

The short boy grabs Shiro's shirt and quickly puts it on. He breathes a sigh of relief, then lets himself lie back down on the bed. He covers his flushed face with his gloved hands and groans.   
"S-sorry, Shiro. I just forgot that I wasn't wearing a binder. You can turn around now."

"Wew! I thought there was an intruder or something."

"I thought so, too." He glares at wherever Lance is.

"I was so surprised that I dropped the glass of water. I'll come back with the medicine." He leaves.

Keith hugs the pillow against his chest and glares at nothing in particular. A long silence washes over them until Keith finally speaks.

"Did you see it?"

". . .uhm. . ."

"You did, didn't you?"

". . .yeah."

"Oh, fuck me." Keith rubs his face. "I totally forgot that I wasn't wearing my binder. I thought I told you to look away everytime I change my clothes?!"

"You caught me off guard, alright? I was looking at the framed pictures in the hallway, and when I turned around, bam! You're there."

Keith groans.

"And Shiro went through me, TWICE! It's kinda rude, really."

"I can't believe you saw it."

"I-it's okay, dude. You're a true master piece, to be honest. What is there to be insecure about?"

"Did you just. . .compliment me?"

"What? No. Since when?"

"Uh, since now?"

"Nope. I was talking to myself. Anyway, I'm so jealous! You get to wear Shiro's shirt."

Keith smirks and decides to let this one go. "Oh, yeah. I am, aren't I?"

"Man, it must be warm?"

"Must be."

"What does it smell like?"

Keith grabs the fabric and puts it up to his nose to sniff. "Ugh, I can't smell it well since I'm sick, but I think I'm getting a hint of some sort of a strong cologne."

"Really now? Give it—" Lance giggles. "—another sniff. This time, a loud and long one so you can smell it better. Then, tell me what it smells like afterwards."

The short boy closes his eyes and gives the fabric a nice long SSSSSSNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFF—

"Smells good?" Shiro asks.

"Yeah, it does smell—" Keith opens his eyes really wide and finds Shiro staring right down at him with an eyebrow raised, a glass of water and a pill in hand each hand. "—really nice."

Lance is laughing so hard right now. That bastard. He tricked him!

"That fever is really getting in on you."

The ghost laughs harder at this. Keith can only grit his teeth.

"Hahaha, I guess. . .Did you just. . .see me sniff. . .?"

"And hear you say that you're getting a hint of some sort of a strong cologne? Yeah."

". . .oh."

"I'm sure you're like this because of the fever. Now, drink the pill and get some rest.

Keith did as he was told. After that, Shiro tucks him in and gets the drinking glass, then saunter towards the door.

"Call me if you need anything." He leaves.

 

Silence.

 

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Keith shouts. "I WANT TO STRANGLE YOU SO BAD THAT YOU'LL GAG YOUR LUNGS OUT!"

Lance's laugh rings in his ears and he doesn't know why he has mistaken it for the sound of singing angels.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

When Keith wakes up, the lights are on and the sky outside of the window is dark. He turns his head to his left and sees Shiro reading a book on a chair beside his bed. . .with glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose?

"You wear glasses?" Keith asks in a small voice. 

"And good evening to you too, Keith. Yes, I do wear reading glasses when I read."

Keith snorts. Shiro places his hand against his neck and forehead. "Your fever has gone down now. You'll be fine in the morning."

He smiles, "Thanks for taking care of me, Shiro. I'd be a mess right now if it weren't for you."

"You're still a mess now, just so you know."

"Thanks, that makes me feel better."

Shiro chuckles. "Hey, wanna eat?"

"No, thanks. I'm good. I think I'm gonna sleep some more."

"Okay." He smiles, then goes back to reading his book. 

Keith closes his eyes and debates wether he could get Andrew to admit that he's the cause of Lance's death by himself, or if he should ask Shiro's help. He can beat the hell out of Andrew if he caught him off guard and if Andrew's group aren't with him, but the problem is, they're always with him. He's made up his mind.

"Shiro?"

"Hmm?" He lifts his head up.

"I need your help on something."

"Sure, anything. I told you before, don't hesitate to ask me for help if you're in need or somethin'."

Keith sits up and rests his back against the head board as Shiro removes his reading glasses and folds a page in his book before putting it aside.

"You see, three months ago, the school arranged this camping trip we were all required to participate in."

"Mmm-hmm."

"And so I went there, and Andrew was there, and also Lance McClain. Lance and Andrew were friends, but they don't really get along that well. Our teacher divided us into groups and they ended up in the same group; the hunting group. And, uh, Lance was last seen with Andrew and his friends before the day ended. The next morning, Lance was missing. The school kept Lance's disappearance a secret, but the police and forest rangers are swarming the camping site up until now in hopes to find Lance. Shiro, I need your help to get the truth out of Andrew so I could personally search for him."

Shiro rubs his eyes, "Alright, who's Lance McClain?"

"He's my. . ." Keith darts his eye to his left, then back to Shiro. ". . .my best friend. He's my best friend."

"I see. And you think Andrew is responsible for Lance's disappearance?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it."

"That means, you really need to stay away from this guy. If he did that to your best friend, how much more to you?"

"That's why I'm asking for your help."

"Sorry, but I'm not taking any chances. That kid is dangerous and I don't wanna see or hear that you've been talking to that kid, understand?"

"NO."

"No?"

". . .N-no," Keith blinks, "Shiro, if it was me missing, wouldn't you do anything and everything to find me?"

"This is different—"

"It's been three months and the police hadn't found him because they had no idea what really happened."

"And you think you do?"

"I do know that Andrew is involved in it. For all I know, the police were only told that Lance wandered off and got lost."

"Maybe he did wandered off too far and got lost?"

"Then he should be back here a long time ago because he would've done anything he can to get back to me, Shiro. I know him."

"Okay, then if the school kept it a secret, how did you know? Rumours?"

"Our two other friends told me."

"Ah, and I guess you're gonna tell me that you know them; they wouldn't make something up because they're angry at this one kid that they want to take revenge of, yeah, go with that one Keith."

In anger, the short boy abruptly stands up from the bed and shot Shiro an angered look, which surprised the said man.

"You don't understand!" Keith snaps. "Those two other friends of mine are suffering from the fact that they might not see Lance again. Aswell as I have! For all we know, he might be dead!"

Shiro stands up aswell, "And then what?! You're gonna endanger your life over his? What if this is just false accusation?"

"This isn't a false accusation! I know Andrew did something, and I'm not gonna sit and wait around here with that knowledge sitting at the back of my mind. I'm doing this, Shiro. And I'm not putting my life in danger because I'm asking for your help, because I know you'd protect me."

Shiro rubs his face, "I'm not always there to protect you, Keith."

"I know, but please, just this once Shiro."

They stare at each other for a moment, until the tall man finally sighs.

"Okay. . .okay. I'll help you."

Keith sits down on the side of the bed. "Thank you."

"I'm just gonna. . .order pizza." 

"Okay. . ."

Shiro nods, collects his book and reading glasses, and leaves.

 

". . .Wow, you really snapped at him right there." Lance says after a long moment of silence in the room. "You really went that far for me?"

"I promised I'd help you."

"Yeah. . ."

"And that's the only explanation."

"Right. . .thanks."

Keith smiles at no where in particular.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: So, hey guys! I just want to point out that there's this part where I unintentionally used the wrong pronoun for Pidge in this one. In the part where Hunk says that they're their master mind hacker and stuff. So instead of using the pronoun they, I used she. I'd like to thank the one who commented and told me that I misgendered them. I get super sensitive and guilty when I accidentally do that because I know what it's like and just...thank you for pointing that out for me. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this story! :D

Keith looks from left to right of the busy halls of Garrison University. It was lunch time and the students can't wait to grab lunch in the cafeteria. Keith, on the other hand, has to think about how he'll get the truth out of Andrew.

"No sign of douche bag Andrew so far." Lance says as Keith puts his hoodie up and walk down the halls. "Hey, maybe Shiro really scared him away. He won't bother you again, right?"

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We both know that a single threat won't stop Andrew from doing what he wants."

"Good point. So you got Shiro to help you, incredibly faster than I could get you to help me, what's your next move?"

"Get Andrew to tell what happened infront of Hunk and Pidge. That way, it'll be coming out from his own mouth. Then I won't have to tell them myself, and that way I won't be accused as the cause of your disappearance."

"Nice. You got it all figured it out more than I could have. But, one question; what makes you think Andrew would spill the beans that easily?"

"That's the problem, really. I'm still figuring out." Keith enters the cafeteria and from afar, he can see Hunk and Pidge seated at the far corner of the room. He bows his head and saunters towards the counter where food is being served. "Got any ideas, Lance McClain?"

"Hhhmmm, as much as I'd like to see you torture the answer out of Andrew—"

"Thought of that, but I'll get sued and might get kicked out of the Garrison."

"I know. What about Shiro?"

"Shiro wouldn't go that far, especially when his opponent is just a teenager."

"Well, I got nothing. . .for now. Look, I think Hunk and Pidge are trying to grab your attention."

He looks over his shoulder and indeed, he sees Hunk waving a hand in the air, inviting him over. Keith groans as the lunch lady puts a plate full of. . .whatever this green gooey thing she just placed onto his plate. "They're gonna be so mad that I didn't showed up to work on our group project."

"Nah, they won't. When they see the little bruises you weren't able to cover up neatly with make-up, they'll understand."

"I thought you said that I got it all covered?"

"Wasn't really paying attention at all. I just noticed it now."

"Great."

Keith walks towards where Hunk and Pidge are, taking a seat beside Hunk and opposite of Pidge. The latter didn't even bother to acknowledge Keith's presnce as they continue to scroll through their phones. Thankfully, Hunk pats Keith's back and gave him a small smile.

"Hey," the big man starts. "How was your weekend?"

"It was. . .bizarre, really."

"Really? I'm sure it would've been more bizarre if you helped us out with our group project, which by the way, Hunk and I are already done with it." Pidge says in a harsh tone, still not looking up at them.

"Ahh, the ever so gentle Pidgeon." Lance says.

"Guys, I'm sorry. It's been really a tough week for me."

"It has been with us too, you know. And don't use that "Andrew encounter" on us as an excuse because you look fine to us right now."

"I. . . I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. They're just really in a bad mood right now. But, can you please put down your hoodie? We're infront of the food, it's very disrespectful."

"Always the food lovin' guy" The ghost chuckles.

"Oh, s-sorry." Keith blushes in embrassment as he clutches the ends of his hoodie. "But, can I be disrespectful just this once? I'm actually more comfortable if my hoodie is—"

"Come on, Keith." Pidge says, still not looking up from their phone. "You've already been disrespectful during the weekened, why won't you go ahead and be more disrespectful now?"

Keith tries not to let them get under his nerves. He sighs, "Right, sorry." He puts down his hoodie and begins to eat.

"Oh my gosh, Keith!" Hunk says from beside him. The short boy is immediately attacked by big hands at each side of his face, making him drop his spoon and abruptly swallow the food that's still in his mouth. "What happened to your face?! And that cut on your forehead—"

"Hunk, could you keep it down? People can hear you."

For the first time, Pidge looks up. "Oh, Hunk. Don't baby the same guy who bailed out on us—WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE, MAN?!"

"Okay," Lance says. "My ear drums are destroyed. Now I know why I stopped sitting next to them every time we hang out."

Several heads turn their way, throwing a curious look towards them, before going back to their lunch. 

"Is it that bad?" Keith asks.

"Uh, yeah? Like, bad as in, BAD BAD." Hunk says.

"It was more than just an 'Andrew encounter', wasn't it?"

Keith nods solemnly, "They were. . .they were gonna beat me to death."

"Holy shit, Keith" Pidge says under their breath. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Both of you have every right to be pissed at me for not showing up. That project was very hard and I'm honestly impressed that you guys finished it by yourselves in just two days."

"Correction," Hunk raises a finger. "We finished it in just one day. Man, your face looks really battered. Have you treated it properly?"

"Yes. I even tried to cover it with make-up, it obviously didn't work. I mean, maybe before lunch while I was in class. But I guess it faded."

"No shit." Pidge says. "We're glad you're safe, Keith."

"Very glad" Hunk says. "How about we finish our lunch so we could get to our science class right after? Then, maybe we could ask some of our classmates for make-up along the way."

Hunk eats food as much as he can within a second. Pidge eats spoonfulls while Keith just pushes his food around his plate. 

"You alright?" Lance asks from beside Pidge. "You seem a little zoned out."

"It's nothing. I'm just thinking of how I'm gonna get the truth out of Andrew."

"Whert wars dart?" Hunk asks, his mouth full of food. "Ded yer se somethin', Keef?"

"Uh, no. Nothing."

"Ha! He just called you Keef! Oh, man! That's better than bike boy."

"Will you stop shouting?" Keith whispers. "You're busting my ear drums."

"Oh, don't be such a kill joy, KEEF. You know I love you, right?"

He blushes, "Shut up or I'm gonna throw you over the edge of a—" Suddenly, his eyes widens at an idea that just popped up in his head. "Love. . .love you. . ."

"Uh, w-what?" The short boy can practically hear the ghost's blush in his voice. "W-what are you saying?"

"Lance, love!" Keith whispers through a smile. "Love! It's the answer. Love is the key."

"You sound like one of those cliché chick flicks my mom and my sisters and I used to watch every thursday night. Haha, good times."

"Lance, I just figured out a way to get the truth out of Andrew."

"Do you mumble a lot?" Pidge asks. "I hate it when people mumble."

"Sorry, it's just. . I know I've been a douche to you guys and I don't deserve you, to be honest, but I need to ask you guys a favor."

"Okay," Hunk says after he swallows a mouthful. "Anything, Keith."

"Sure thing, what is it?"

"After classes, meet me in the music room. I have something important to say."

Hunk frowns in confusion, "What's so important that you can't tell it to us now?"

"It's complicated."

Hunk and Pidge shared a look.

"Guys, I'll explain later. Just please go to the music room after classes. And if I'm not there yet, please wait for me."

Hunk nods, "Okay, okay. We'll be there."

"Thanks."

"Well," Pidge stands up. "How about we go get that make-up?"

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

Science class just finished. Hunk, Pidge and Keith parted ways to go to their respective classes. The short boy opened his locker, then shoved some books into it.

"Pidge and Hunk did a really good job covering all your bruises."

"Yeah. Good thing they weren't all that mad at me."

"What did I tell ya? But, be cautious around Pidge next time. They're easily angered."

"I'll try not to forget."

"Good. So, about that idea of yours?"

"You'll find out."

Keith closes his locker and looks at his left to find the person who he has been looking for. He smiles, then looking from left to right, approaches that person while pulling his hoodie up.

"Hey, Becka."

Her eyes widens up at him after she closed her locker. "Keith?! No, go away!"

"What? I have something to say to you."

"Keef! What are you doing?" Lance shouts. "Do you have a death wish? Andrew might see you!"

"Keith, you know Andrew will be angry if he sees us together. Go away."

"I know, I know. But please, I need your help."

"We're not allowed to talk to each other anymore."

"Please? One favor. Becka, come on."

"What's in it for me?"

"Uuuhhh, how 'bout a better relationship?"

She scoffs, "Are you asking me out on a date? You know I'm with Andrew. You know, the guy who wants to hurt you?"

"What? No. I"m not trying to date you."

"Oh, why? Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, I just. . .Look, I need your help. Please."

"Ugh, fine. What is it?"

Keith smirks.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - 

Pidge presses a key on the piano in the music room. They sit with their elbow resting on some keys on the piano, while the other hand lazily hit notes on the said instrument. It's been after classes and they immediately headed towards the music room, thus where they are now. Waiting and waiting and waiting and — 

"Dude," Hunk says, sitting on the chair of the drum set. "Do you think he's gonna show up?"

"I don't know." They hit another key on the piano. "I should be doing my research by now."

Hunk yawns, "I should be asleep right now. Wanna bail?"

"As much as I want to, but it seems like whatever Keith is gonna say must be really important. We should wait a little longer."

They stay like that for a couple minutes more. No talking, just waiting and waiting and—

Suddenly, a buff man in a black hoodie bursts in through the door. He closes it and stands beside it.

"Keith? Finally! We've been—why are you all winded out?"

"Uh, Pidge? I don't think that's Keith." Hunk stands up. "Uh, it seems that you're lost—"

"SSShhhhhh!!!!" The man silenced them with a finger raised  
against his lips.

"Oh, wait. I know you. You're from the Altean Café!" Hunk beams.

"SSSSHHHH!!!"

Hunk and Pidge shared a look. After a few moments, they hear two pair of running feet outside the hall. They grow louder and louder and suddenly, the door swings open and Keith stumbles into the room before completely falling down on the floor. 

"You made it, Keith!" Lance shouts in glee. "I can't believe you made it!"

Keith pants, "You gotta have faith in me more."

Shiro grits his teeth. When the next pair of feet gets louder, the buff man pushes the door closed, followed by a grunt and the sound of a body falling down at the otherside of the door. 

"What is going on?!" Pidge shouts as they stand on top of their seat. "Keith! Can you please explain to us what the fuck is happening?"

"Oh man, oh man. This is not a good time, not a good time!" Hunk panics.

"I'll explain in a minute. Just let me catch my breath."

Shiro comes back in with Andrew slung on his right shoulder. Hunk and Pidge's eyes widens into the size of marbles. 

"Let me go! Put me down you ugly fart! I could sue you for this, old man!"

"Shut up!" Shiro throws him down on the floor next to the piano. He crouches down and pulls out a rope from his belt and bonds Andrew's hands and feet together. When he was done, he stands up and walks over to Keith.

"I told you that he was dangerous!" Shiro shouts at the short boy who was still sitting on the floor. "But, no! You insisted and promised me that nothing bad would happen."

"Nothing bad did happened."

"You almost got hit in the head with that rock he threw!"

"I dodged it!"

"You almost got cornered by his friends!"

"I've out run them!"

"You tripped and scraped your knee!"

"What am I? A kid?!"

"Hey, you two! Get this fucking rope off—"

Keith, Lance and Shiro whip their heads towards Andrew's direction and shouts "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"This is crazy." Hunk says under his breath.

Keith stands up and glares at Shiro, "I'm very thankful that you're helping me, but you can't treat me like a damn child! I can handle myself, okay?"

"Yeah, come back and tell me that again once you know why an antiseptic is important to treat wounds."

The short boy scoffs then stomps toward Andrew. He kicks the bonded teen to his side three times.

"Keith! What are you doing?!" Pidge shouts. "Calm down. You're a better man than to hurt someone who's defenseless."

"Tell that to the guy who wanted to beat me to death!"

"Fuck you, man! You were flirting with my girl!"

"I told you that she almost tripped and I helped her! What part of that don't you understand?!"

"Bullshit, Keithy-boy!"

Keith kneels down and grabs Andrew's colar with both hands. "Call me that one more time and I'll smash you're teeth in."

Andrew spits on his face. "Keithy. Boy."

The short boy growls, then lifts his fist to get ready for a swing. Shiro grabs it before he can even punch Andrew. 

"Keith, this isn't you. Calm down and we can resolve this, together."

"Shiro's right, Keith." Lance starts in a somewhat calm voice. "You need to calm down. Don't let anger cloud your judgement. I know that you hate Andrew as much as I hate him, but there's a better punishment for him than just this. And remember, we don't know what he's going through. Even if this guy is a douche bag, deep down he has insecurities and problems that he expresses through, uh, bullying. So, collect yourself and do what you came to do."

Keith lets out a breath before yanking his fist off of Shiro's grip and standing up. He clench and unclench his fists as he tries to cool off.

 

"Alright," Hunk starts. "Now that that's over, can you please explain us what's going on?"

"Guys, " Keith replies in a low voice. "We all know that Lance didn't just "wandered off too far and got lost", right? You said it for yourself. Hunk? Do you believe that Lance got lost?"

"N-no."

"Why?"

He scratches his right cheek, "Well, I know Lance. He wouldn't just wander off without knowing a way back."

"Aww, thanks Hunk." Lance says.

"Lance maybe loud and annoying most of the times—"

"Hey!"

"—but he's a smart ass. He should've been back a long time ago."

"What about you Pidge?"

"I don't believe it either."

"Then what do you think happened to him?"

"Maybe, maybe. . ." Hunk says. "Maybe someone purposely left him behind? Got him injured? Maybe he got kidnapped?"

"Does the police know about this?"

Pidge shakes their head. "No. From what I heard, Mr. Iverson just told them that he must've wandered off and that they can't find him."

"And where did you hear this?" Shiro cuts in. "From an unreliable source? He said she said? Rumours?"

Keith glares at Shiro over his shoulder.

"I. . .I, uh, cover Andrew's ears." Hunk did as what they've ordered. They scratch the back of their head in embarrassment. "I kinda planted small devices inside in offices inside the school so I can eavesdrop confidential conversations."

"Yeah, they do that. They're our hacker and our tech master mind and that mambo jambo." Hunk says proudly as Lance hums in agreement.

"Isn't that illegal?" The tall man asks.

"Only if I get caught, which is highly unlikely. I hid those teeny-tiny devices in all the impossible places so, I got nothing to worry about. What about you though? Isn't it illegal that you busted into the school without any school official's consent, then assualting a student?"

"Only if I get caught." Shiro smirks, earning a thumbs up from Pidge.

"Back to the topic please." He removes his hands from Andrew's ears. "So what if we don't believe what Iverson said? That can't bring Lance back to us. Why is Andrew even here?"

"Because," Keith looks at Andrew. "I know he has something to do with Lance's disappearance."

"What?! What the fuck are you talking about?!" Andrew shouts.

"Oh please." The ghost says.

"Dude, Keith. He might've been the last person to be with Lance, but we don't have any proof that he has anything to do with Lance's dissappearance."

"That's why he's here, Hunk. That's why we're all here; we're gonna get the truth out of him."

"What truth? I didn't do shit!"

"Shut up!" They all shout.

"But Keith," Pidge says. "Why do you care now? Why after all this time, you care about that now?"

"Because I. . ." Keith clenches his hands. "I know what it's like to wait for someone who you don't know if they'll be alive or. . .not. We need the truth, and we're gonna get it now."

Hunk, Pidge, Keith and Shiro looks at Andrew. The bonded teen glared at them.

"Truth? You want the truth? The truth is, I DIDN'T DO SHIT!"

"Liar!" Keith and Lance shout at the same time. "You did something and you're afraid to admit it."

"I'm not afraid of anything."

"Really? Then tell us what happened back at the camping trip if you're not really afraid."

"There's nothing to tell. We just hung-out after dinner. Then, we got to our own cabins. The next day, we couldn't find him so we told Mr. Iverson. He told us that he'll take it from there."

"Oh, that's an easy story to make up. Because I know for certain that you're not the type of person to go to sleep exactly at their bed time. No, siree."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Oh, I do. You're the damn man who glued my hand in the boy's bathroom wall with industrial glue, and locked me in the fucking school!"

Andrew chuckles, "Ah, yeah. You've never forgotten, huh? I knew that was the reason why you started wearing those stupid gloves."

"Is this true, Keith?" Shiro asked in a concerned voice.

"Let's not dwell too much on me." Keith crouches down infront of Andrew. "How about, I don't know, I'll tell a situation and tell me if that's close to what really happened."

"I'm telling you, I didn't do anything."

"Alright, Keith." Lance says. "This is your time. Don't tell the whole situation or it'll look like you've known the truth all this time and Hunk and Pidge might get angry with you for not telling them. Then they'll start asking questions. Just give bits and pieces of what I told you."

"Don't worry. Trust me on this."

"Get this rope off of me and we'll forget that this ever—"

"One night at the Garrison's camping trip, their was a douche bag named Andrew, and a boy named Lance. They call themselves friends, but they don't entirely get along with each other, right?"

"Shut the fuck up. Lance is my friend—"

"Bullshit!" Pidge and Lance shouts at the same time.

"We all know that you never really liked him. Hmmm, what else should I add into the scenario? You got into a fight? Beat him to death?"

"Are you stupid? Will I really pull something like that in a camping trip?"

"You pulled it on me. And a wide rural forest? Plenty of space to go away from the camp site? Somewhere far enough to not hear the screams and grunts of pain? I'd say that it's the perfect place for murder."

Andrew smirks, "Sorry pal, but I didn't beat him to death."

Keith smiles wide, "So, you did do something to cause Lance's disappearance?"

"BINGO!" Lance screams.

His smirk faded. "I didn't say anything."

"Ah, but you did imply, judging by the tone of your voice, that you did something else, just not beating Lance to death. Am I right?"

"What I said is that I didn't do shit! Leave me the fuck alone, Kogane."

Keith hits his palm against the piano keys, making horrible notes echo throughout the room. "I know you did something, damn it! Spill it out now!"

"What if I don't?! Huh? Are you gonna beat me to death? Are you gonna kill me?"

"Well, maybe I should, shouldn't I? After all, you're useless to us if you really don't have any information we're looking for."

A sweat rolls down on his forehead. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, bitch."

"Damn, this is intense!" Lance says. "I feel like I'm in a cop movie or in one of those awesome action movies."

"I know you Kogane. You wouldn't kill me. You're too weak,"

"Maybe I'll reconsider if you tell me now what you're hiding."

"Go to hell."

Keith grits his teeth, "Alright. You asked for this." He pulls out a small knife tucked behind the back of his pants. Hunk and Pidge gasps at this.

"Keith! Don't!" Hunk yells. "No murder! No murder!"

Pidge visibly pales and doesn't say a word. They can only stare at the knife with wide eyes.

Shiro immediately grabs Keith's hand containing the knife. The short boy grunts as the buff man twists his arm to his back.

"Keith, I'm not gonna let you make this horrible mistake that you'll regret forever. Especially out of anger. Drop the knife, Keith."

"Shiro, I'm not gonna kill him. I have a plan. Please trust me." He whispers. "Just trust me. I know what I'm doing."

The tall man sighs, then acts as if Keith broke free of his grip. The short boy immediately opens the room's cabinet where some other instruments are found. Instead, they found something else when Keith opened the door. It stumbles to the ground.

It's Becka.

Tied and gagged.

"BECKA!" Andrew screams. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER!? I'M GONNA FUCKING MAKE YOU PAY, YOU ASSHOLE! I'M GONNA FUCKING MAKE YOU ALL PAY!"

"Oh my gosh, Keith!" Hunk reacts. "This is serious crime! You could get into jail for this!"

"Keith! What are you. . .?" Shiro says, his jaw hanging open as he stares at Keith while he drags the poor girl towards the center of the room. The short boy mouths "trust me". Shiro clenches his jaw.

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER! I WILL BEAT YOU UP ONCE I GET OUT OF THIS!"

"Oh, I'd be happy to get you out if you spill the truth."

"FUCK YOU! DON'T DO THIS SHIT!"

"Huh, then maybe you'll tell it to sweet little Becka here, hm?"  
Keith points the knife to Becka's neck, which made the girl whimper.

"FUCKING PUT THAT DOWN! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"

"Tell me what happened and I won't hurt her, Andrew!"

"I SAID I DIDN'T DO SHIT!"

"Lies!" Keith and Lance shout at the same time. The short boy points the knife closer to her skin. "Tell us the truth now!"

"FUCK YOU! I SAID I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Tears starts to roll from his eyes. "STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM HER." He sobs.

"Keith," Shiro speaks up. "Maybe he really didn't do anything? Maybe it's all just a false accusation?"

"Don't let those tears fool you, Keith." The ghost says.

He frowns and lets the knife touch Becka's neck. "TELL ME RIGHT NOW, ANDREW!"

"NO! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Andrew!" Becka says through her mouth, tears rolling down from her eyes as well. "Babe, I love you."

Andrew sobs louder. "BECKA,I LOVE YOU MORE. I'M SOORY IF I BEAT YOU A LOT. BABE, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH."

"C'MON, ANDREW!" Keith growls. "TELL ME NOW!"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

Keith raises the knife over his head to get ready and stab Becka's neck. The girl screams, Andrew aswell. Hunk looks away and Pidge can only stare at what was before them. They can't even move. Shiro shouts Keith's name as he tries to run up to him to stop him. Keith was gonna stab her, but before he could bring his knife back down, Andrew shouts.

"NO! DON'T! I'LL TELL YOU! I'LL TELL YOU! PLEASE DON'T KILL HER! PLEASE DON'T KILL HER!"

The short boy lowers the knife to his side. Shiro stands behind his back. Hunk looks back at the scene before him and Pidge finally blinks.

"Alright!!!" Lance shouts. "Nice one! Victory to Keith!"

"I GOT MAD AT HIM FOR STICKING HIS NOSE INTO MY BUSINESS ALL THE TIME. SO PAST CURFEW, MY GROUP AND I TOOK HIM FAR FROM THE CAMP SITE. WE PLAN TO JUST BEAT HIM UP, YOU KNOW, TEACH HIM A LESSON WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HEARD GROWLING."

"Growling?" Pidge asks in a weak voice. "An animal?"

"YES, SOUNDED KINDA LIKE A WOLF. AND THEY WERE MORE THAN ONE OF THEM. MY FRIENDS RAN BACK TO THE CAMP. I FOLLOWED NOT BEFORE I PUSHED HIM TOWARDS THE GROWLING NOISES. THEN I TOOK OFF! THAT'S IT! I TOLD MR. IVERSON THAT HE WONDERED OFF TOO FAR AND GOT LOST! PLEASE! THAT'S IT! LET GO OF HER!"

"You mean. . ." Hunk sniffs. "Lance might be. . .?"

"Dead. He must be dead." Pidge finishes.

"MUST BE. THERE'S NO WAY HE COULD'VE OUT RUN THOSE."

Tears fall from both Hunk and Pidge's eyes, as Keith lets go of Becka and give them a sad look over his shoulder. Shiro puts a hand on Keith's shoulder, saying that he's sorry about the news. The short boy nods, then walks toward the weeping Andrew. 

"Even the meanest of all people," Keith says. "Has love in their hearts to keep them alive." 

"Just. . .Just let me and Becka go, man."

"Wait for a sec." He looks over his shoulder. "Did you get all of that, Becka?"

She turns her back to them, revealing that she was holding a recorder in her bonded hands.

"You. . .you were recording all along?" Andrew asks in a weak voice. "Babe. . .?"

"Oh, right. She agreed to this whole thing. You can't sue me through violence against women, if you're planning to. I have a contract to prove that she agreed into acting like she was gonna get murdered. But I could sue you. You did say that you beat her a lot."

"Fuck you, Kogane. I can sue you for kidnapping me and using a deadly weapon in the school campus."

"Ah-ah-ah!" He wags a finger infront of his face. "Even if you do, your case won't win because once I get this evidence to the police and a lawyer, it's jail time for you. And the knife isn't real, dipstick. It's cardboard covered in aluminum foil. By the way, your girlfriend is a really great actress. Or should I say ex girlfriend. She's planning to break up with you, FYI. After all, how could she find a better relationship without letting go of the bad one?"

"You sick bastard. I'm gonna kill you."

"You're so funny. See you in court, asshole."

Keith stands up and saunters towards Hunk and Pidge while Shiro helps Becka in untrying the rope. They were both crying silently as they lean against the drum set. Keith puts a hand on Pidge's shoulder, then they hug him. Hunk does this awell. They weep like that for a moment, and Keith had never felt so heart broken.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mentions of drugs, depression and suicide. These aren't really the main topic in here, it's just mentioned. So if you are bothered by that, skip the part where Shiro and Keith are talking to each other, the part where:
> 
> [Shiro slowly removes his hands from Keith and sits back down on the couch.]
> 
> Then start reading again at:
> 
> [He stands up and faces Keith.]
> 
> That's all. Thank you and enjoy!! :^D

Keith sits down on the badthub filled with pink water because of that bath bomb Shiro just bought earlier. He closes his eyes and lets out an exhausted sigh. It's been hours since the whole "Andrew thing" and Keith still can't believe he managed to get through it. And he freaked out his friends. He hopes they could sleep well tonight. After all, it's a victory. Andrew was reported to the police and was kept into their custody for further investigations regarding Andrew's friends. Neither one of them could have the heart to tell Lance's family to what really happened to him. Atleast, not yet.

"You okay there?" Lance says from the other side of the curtain shower. "You seem really exhausted. Well, who wouldn't be after all that, right?"

"Hmm."

"I'm just really lucky that you'd go through all that trouble for me, Keith. I can't thank you enough."

"It's okay. It's the least I could do for the person who risked his life to protect mine without me even knowing it." Keith opens his eyes and looks down on his feet. "So, this is it."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"After all of this, everything will go back to normal. Well, minus Andrew since he'll be in jail."

"See? I just saved you from being bullied more."

"Right, but you're gonna leave after we got your body, right?"

"Well, that is the objective here."

"Hm. I'll be alone again."

"What? Hey, you have Hunk and Pidge plus Becka. Especially Shiro. You're not alone."

"You're right, but you were always there when I was alone in my apartment. Talking, cracking jokes, fighting and shouting in the middle of the night." Keith chuckles. "My neighbours must think that I'm crazy and that I'm talking to myself."

"Yeah. . .it was nice to be in your company aswell."

"But it'll all end soon, right?"

". . .Right. Very soon."

"Well, it was fun while it lasted. Thanks for being there for me, Lance. Even if we started things a little bumpy, we managed to go smooth sailing from there."

"You're thanking me? Pfft! I should be thanking you Keith! No one would ever go through that just to help someone who's already dead!"

"I thought so too, but you were able to convince me to help you. Besides, you aren't just an ordinary ghost. You matter to both of my friends and you matter to me too."

"Ugh, man. This sucks."

"Why?"

"I don't know? I mean, look, you like me and I like you. But we can't be together. I regret living my life without you in it. If only we could've met earlier, gotten to know each other earlier? We could've made memories."

"So when you die, it'll actually affect me big time? No way! I think it's better this way. But, yeah. It would've been nice to be together, hm?"

"Hmm."

"Do you. . .do you really have to leave?"

"I can't stay here forever. Why'd you ask?"

"When you live your life as I do, you're gonna need someone to guide you through it, more than what Shiro does to me. You affected my life in ways that I couldn't ever imagine. I changed so much ever since I heard you in the substation. Before I was weak and shy and awkward, but now I'm more out spoken and confident. That's thanks to you, Lance. I don't want you to leave. Ever."

"Keith. . .what you're saying is too. . .impossible. I have to leave. I can't wander any longer. It's not like I want to leave you, but I really need to go to the other side. You would too if you were in my position."

"And you would've ask to stay too if you were in mine."

"I. . .I'm sorry, Keith. I can't. I really have to go."

Keith lets out a shaky breath, holding back his tears. "Okay. . .okay. I understand."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The short boy steps out of the bathroom, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. He was wearing another shirt that Shiro let him borrow since the buff man insists that he should stay with him atleast after the investigation with Andrew is over. He places his binder in the hamper before hanging the towel back in the bathroom and stepping out of it again.

"Keith," Shiro says from the couch. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, how about tomorrow instead? I'm really exhausted and I just want to go to sleep."

"I know it's been a long day, but please. I really need to talk to you."

Keith rubs his face before he saunter towards the living room to sit down beside Shiro on the couch. They sit like that for a long moment, silence engulfing them like the mists in the night.

"Ooh, looks like he's gonna give you the father talk, Keith."  
Lance jokes in which Keith just ignores.

"So, how's your knee?"

"It's just wounded, Shiro. It's not gonna be the death of me."

"It will be if it gets infected."

"Stop exagerrating, will you? I'm fine."

". . .Okay. You know, I'm not proud of what you did back there."

Keith crosses his arms and leans his back against the couch.  
"Oh, sorry if I'm such a big disappoinment to you, DAD."

"You acted irrattional and you let your anger out of control. You threatened that kid and you traumatized your friends—"

"The knife and Becka are just for show. It was an act, okay? The knife isn't even real."

"But did your friends know that? Do they really know that it was all just part of your plan to get what you wanted?"

"You don't understand do you? I did that because my friend was missing and I knew something happened to him. And I proved that it wasn't just a false accusation."

"And you're proud of that? There could've been another way to settle it."

"You don't know Andrew. He won't admit anything unless he's really put on the edge."

"Oh, what? Are you gonna say that you know Andrew, too? Bravo, Keith. You know everybody that you think you could just walk up to them and say shitty stuff like that."

Keith stands up, hands balled into fists. "I asked you for your help, not to stick your nose into my business!"

"If I don't, you'd put yourself in danger and I can't always protect you!"

"Ugh, what do you care?! You're just my boss in the café I work in! So what if you knew my dad? He's dead and if you want, you could go down with him because I don't care!"

"Stop saying things you don't mean and things you'll regret later, Keith." He stands up and grabs Keith by the shoulders. "I may only be your boss to you, but to me, you're family. I won't let anything happen to my family, not now when I could do something."

". . .What are you. . .?" Keith blinks. "Did something. . .happened to your family?"

Shiro slowly removes his hands from Keith and sits back down on the couch. 

"I was. . .I was fifteen when my older and only sister got rebelious against our parents. Everyone in my age thought she was cool and hardcore, but I knew what she was doing was wrong. Kinda like what you're doing now, Keith. Rebellion. I didn't do anything about my sister's rebelious ways, because I'm just her little brother, right? But no. I could've done something since she is my family. It's a little too late when I realized that though."

". . .What happened?"

"She got into drugs, clubs and gangs. Then she got depressed and suicidal. I knew she was, but did I do anything? No. I thought mom and that could do it themselves but they were too busy for work. She comitted suicide when I was sixteen."

"And you think I'm her? You think I'd comitt suicide?"

He stands up and faces Keith. "Her actions led her to her death and there were a lot of close calls yours had almost led to your own death. Now that I could do something, I'm doing the best I can to help you."

"I didn't ask for anymore more of your help."

"Neither did she but damn, she needed it. I just want you to see what you're becoming into if you don't realize your actions are wrong before it's too late."

"Stop comparing me to your sister. I'm sorry to hear about that and I know it's the first time you'd ever opened up to me, but I know what I'm doing, alright?"

"I sure hope you do." Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're really upset about what happened to your friend and you wanted to know what really happened after a long time of wait, but you should've been considerate to those around you. What if they wouldn't be able to sleep at night because of what you did?"

"But. . .it wasn't real."

"It was to them. What would your father think if he heard about this? What would your mother say when she wakes up and hears about this?"

Keith bites his lip as he holds back his tears.

"And no matter what you do to try to push me away, I won't leave you, Keith. I'm here for you."

The short boy suddenly hugs Shiro tightly, wrapping his arms around his torso. The buff man pats his back softly.

"I want you to know that I may not be proud of what you did earlier, but I am proud of how much loyalty you have for your friend, Lance. You'll become a better version of yourself if you  
enrich that aspect of yours instead of the bad one."

Keith sobs into Shiro's chest. "I'm sorry, Shiro. I'm so so so sorry. . ."

"Sshhh, it's okay. I'm here for you."

The buff man strokes Keith's hair and they stay like that for a little while longer.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
The next day, Keith enters the school's cafeteria and immediately looks for Hunk and Pidge. Oddly, they weren't there.

"What? Where could they be?" The short boy asks.

"If they aren't here during lunch time," the ghost says. "Then they must be in the library. Go check it out."

Keith goes back out of the canteen and saunters through the halls along with the other students who chose to skip out on lunch.

"Are you sure you want to confront them now? You haven't even eaten yet."

"The food here sucks anyway. Can you believe it's colored green?"

"Oh, I believe it. I went here. But, seriously. You should rest first. You still must be tired after you and Shiro—"

"Let's not ever speak of that conversation Shiro and I had last night, okay?"

"Uh. . .but—"

"I said, don't. I was wrong to ever talk back to him and I was wrong for using that tactic on Andrew aswell as startling my friends, our friends. But what choice did I have?"

Lance doesn't speak.

The short boy enters the quiet library and only one person was there; Pidge. They were silently tapping something into their computer while occassionaly glancing from a book they're reading. He slowly walks towards them, hands in his pockets.

"Is this sit taken?" Keith asks.

They just shrugged, not looking up at him.

"Hmph." Lance says. "They're not in a good mood. Take a sit and try to talk to them."

Keith sits down opposite of Pidge and out of all the times he could find himself speechless, it has to be now.

"Shit, I don't know what to say."

"Why won't you ask them what they're working on?"

He clears his throat. "So, um, what are you working on?"

"Stuff." They said flatly.

"Wow," the ghost says. "Very informative."

"Now what? They seem very upset."

"I would be too if I found out that my friend is dead, and I saw my other friend have a knife pointed at one of the people who go to my school."

"You aren't helping. I got the truth out, so what the hell?"

"Just, wow. Shiro's dad attitude is rubbing off on me. How about you ask where Hunk is?"

"Uh, where's Hunk?"

"He didn't go to school today. Said he was sick."

"It's because of me, isn't it?"

They stop typing. "I don't know, Keith. Why won't you tell me?"

He opens his mouth but no word seems to come out. Instead, he sighs and just talks without thinking.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you guys sooner that the thing with Becka was all for show to get the truth out of Andrew. And the knife wasn't real."

"You think I didn't know?"

"Huh?"

Pidge makes eye contact with him for the first time in this conversation and he could see the bags under their eyes."I know that the knife was fake eventually when I just can't stop staring at it ever since you pulled it out. I told Hunk, but he was still bothered by it."

"I'm. . .really sorry you had to experience that."

"Oh, no. Don't get me wrong. I've been wanting to ask Andrew about Lance myself. I tried hooking one of the small devices on Andrew's back but he never really did mention about Lance's disappearance. If it weren't for you, we'd still be thinking that Lance was still alive."

Keith furrows his brows in concern.

"But that still doesn't excuse you from scaring the shit out of us. At least you could've told us what you were planning so we wouldn't be freaked out at all. We could've even helped you."

"I know, I know. I'm an idiot for not doing that. But lately, I just haven't been really thinking straight. I'm sorry for putting you guys through this."

"It's okay. I knew , for sometime, that Lance might be dead. The longer you wait, the greater your hope fades away. But it still hurts."

Keith puts a hand on Pidge's. "You're very brave and strong, Pidge. We'll get through this."

"Thanks. But, why would you go through all of that for someone who bullied you? Someone who you don't know?"

"I. . ." Keith ponders for a moment before replying. "In the end, we're all humans anyway. And I believed what Hunk told me back at the café, that Lance didn't know what he was doing. Who am I to judge him when I myself had my fair share of mistakes?"

"That's. . .very mature of you, Keith. Lance would've liked you. He may seem a bit of an asshole, but once you get to know him, he's actually a sweet heart. He' be grateful. The four of us could've rocked the world."

He smiles. "No doubt."

"But I wonder how we're gonna tell this to his family? They might not believe it at first. We can't have his body since we don't know where exactly he died. Plus, it's been three months."

"We could go to the camping site and find it this weekend?"

"Are you insane? That's hours away. And if the police didn't find Lance, what makes you think we could?"

"That's because they think the person they're looking for is still alive. We could try. If we don't, we could leave a lit candle for him."

"Oh, and what? Create a forest fire?"

"It's just a candle."

"I know. I'll. . .I'll tell Hunk about it and we'll let you know what we think. I'll also tell him what you told me now, I'm sure that'll make him feel better. Thanks for helping, Keith. You're a good friend."

"I didn't really do anything special."

"Don't be modest. You helped us,big time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have stuff to finish."

Keih stands up and smiles at them. "Okay. Thanks, Pidge. Talk to you later."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: Panic Attack 
> 
>  
> 
> Hey, guys! If I'm really being honest with you, this is the chapter that really took long for me to finish because bam~ writer's block. But thank goodness, I was able to finish it and I can't wait to hear what you guys think. Also, this fan fic is about to end and despite all of the temptations and laziness, I didn't abandon it just like I promised. Yey! I think there are 2-3 chaoters left so enjoy! :-)

Keith looks out of the front seat's window, watching as they pass buildings, people and cars. It's 8 am and the morning breeze feels great as it brushes against Keith's skin and as it runs through his hair. It's nice to sit back and relax after that crazy hell of a week he's been through. They're on their way to the camp site with Pidge and Hunk at the back and Shiro behind the wheel, much to Keith's disapproval.

"I'm coming with you." Shiro said as Keith pulls his back pack higher on his shoulders. "There's no way I'm letting all of you go into that forest without anyone to supervise. What if one of you gets lost?"

Keith rolls his eyes while walking towards Hunk and Pidge standing beside Shiro's black car. "It's okay, Shiro. We may be young, but we aren't kids anymore. If you're worried about the car, don't be. We won't break it."

"Does your parents even know about this?"

"Uh," Hunk says. "I told her it was a school activity. But I never told her about Lance."

"Same." Pidge says.

"You guys still need someone to look after you."

Keith groans as he opens the car's trunk,then dumps his back pack in it beside Hunk and Pidge's. "We'll be fine."

"I don't know, Keith. I like it better when Shiro's around."

"I'm with Hunk. I feel safer when your "impulse control" is around."

"My what now?"

"Sorry, Keith. The jury has spoken. By the way, I'm afraid we haven't properly introduced ourselves to each other." Shiro extends a hand for the two to shake. "I'm Shiro. You all know me from the Altean Café."

Pidge is the first to accept his hand. "My name is Pidge. I love the green tea you serve back there. It always calms my nerves everytime there's exams week."

"I'm Hunk. I love everything in your café. The lights, the tables, the decorations, the food, the people, the—"

"I think he gets it, Hunk." The ghost says with a laugh.

"—drinks, everything! Pidge, Lance and I always hang out there in our early high school years."

"I'm glad that my small café has served well with my customers."

"So," Pidge adjusts their glasses. "Are you two related by blood?"

"Yeah, are you? You guys seem very close to each other."

"Well, uh." Shiro scratches the back of his head. "I'm just his—"

"We may not be related by blood, but he's like a brother to me." Keith says, making direct contact to Shiro who smiles in return. "Get in the car, old man."

Keith smiles to himself as he sticks his hand out of the window, feeling the rushing air in the spaces betwix his fingers. He had never felt this liberated before. Like a caged bird who—

"Keith, put your damn hand back in the car!"

He rolls his eyes. "What are you? My mom?"

"No, I'm your over protective brother." He ruffles his hair. "Now, am I?"

The short boy chuckles. "Stop it or I'll cut your ridiculous white hair floof off your head!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

The ghost laughs, "You two are so adorable."

"You guys are cute when, you know, you aren't shouting at the top of your lungs." Hunk says from the back seat.

"Oh, yeah. . .haha. Sorry again for what I did back there. I shouldn't have scared you guys like that."

"It's okay, I got over it. I do have to man up if we ever find Lance's. . ."

"If we don't, we can light a candle for him instead." Pidge says. "Thanks for convincing us again into doing this, Keith."

"Hey, every single person matters. I'm willing to prove it through this."

Shiro smiles, "What did I tell you, Keith? You can become a better version of yourself if you enrich your good aspect instead of the bad one."

"Goddess, Shiro." Keith hides his flushed face behind his hands. "Stop saying those things infront of my friends. It's embarrassing."

Laughter fills the whole car, mixing with his own. But somehow, Keith can only hear Lance's angelic laugh while the others fades away. 

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - --

"Earth to Keith!" Lance shouts out of nowhere. "Wake up, sleepy head! We're almost there."

Keith lifts his head up slowly from the car's window as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. He yawns and blinks several times before taking in the scenery before him. They were approaching a guard's post where there's a boom lowered, not being able to pass with it in the way.

"Good, you're all awake." Shiro says as he slows the car down to a stop before the guard post. "We're here, but it looks like we can't just come and go since there's a restriction."

"No shit." Pidge says.

"Look, it must be one of the forest rangers." Keith points out as a tall man with orange hair and an odd orange moustache. He's wearing a forest ranger uniform. He approache them with a skeptic look on his face. Shiro lowers his car window.

"Good afternoon, sir." The buff man greets.

"After noon, as well!" He chirps happily through his peculiar accent. "My, my! We never often get any visitors here. By the way, what brings you here, mr. . .?"

"I'm Shiro." He extends a hand and the forest ranger accepts it with delight. "We're here regarding the missing student from the Garrison University back at Voltron city."

"Oh! You mean this young lad?" The man pulls out a flyer from the back of his pocket, revealing a missing person poster. The paper contains a photo of a young teenage boy with a wide toothy grin on his visage. His hair was brown and his nose is a little crooked to the side. No doubt that that was Lance.

"Hey, I look good in that photo! It's nice to know that I still look good even on these missing flyers."

"Yes, that's him. Lance McClain." Keith cuts in. "We're his friends and we're from the Garrison aswell."

"Ah, I see! I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but I still don't quite see why all of you need to go through my post here."

"We have an update on the case. It's been revealed to the police that Lance McClain might be dead." Shiro explains.

"What?! Where are the police then?! Shouldn't they be the ones here regarding the corpse?"

"OMG." Hunk puts a hand to his mouth. "This is too much." 

"The police," Pidge leans forward in between Shiro and Keith. "Are still focused on the investigations relating to the person responsible for his death. We're just here in hopes to pay our respect to our deceased friend."

"Ahh, I see. Welp, you can tell more about it to the person in charge of this operation. She's been really working hard in looking for this young chap here. She'd be crestfallen if she finds out about this."

"We'll be sure to thank her for caring if you could just let us through your post, sir." Keith says.

"Sir?! No! You can call me Coran instead. I'm really sorry about your friend though. He seems like a fine lad."

"I hate how this guy calls me 'chap' and 'lad' like I'm some little kid." 

"Nice meeting you, Coran." Shiro nods.

Coran raises the boom up and lets Shiro pass through his post. A little more driving and occassional turns, they finally arrive the main camping site. Pidge was the first one to step out of the car.

"Holy shit!" They exclaim. "It feels like going back to the past!  
I remember how Hunk and I were chasing each other here and got in trouble. Right, Hunk?"

Hunk vomits as soon he steps out of the car.

"I think he remembers." The ghost says with a chuckle.

"All I remember here are the insect bites I gained." Keith slams the door with a loud thud. "I forgot to bring an insect repellant that day and I regretted it, big time."

"Did you brought one now?"

"No. . .?"

"You should've asked from me. I have a whole kit full of body lotions to take care of my flawless skin. There's no way I'd go anywhere without my skin care products!" Lance exclaims.

"In case you've forgotten, you weren't much of the approachable type in my account."

"Hey! What does that suppose to mean? I am a very approachable person. Otherwise, those skin care routines would be such a waste."

"Guess they were."

"Did you say something?" Shiro asks as he stands beside him. He furrows his brows in suspicion. "Were you just. . .talking to someone?"

Keith laughs nervously. "What?"

"It sounded like you were having a conversation. . .?"

"With who?"

"You tell me."

"Nah. Uh, I was just talking to myself about this whole situation."

"Were you?" He takes a step forward, making Keith take a step back.

"Uh, duh? Oh, look! She must be the one in charge of Lance's disappearance. We should go talk to her."

Keith runs away from Shiro towards the now approaching woman in the same uniform as Coran was wearing.

"Nice job, keith. You made him suspicous of you. And to make him even more suspicious of you, ran the fuck away from him. Great work, great work, Keith."

"It's your fault! You shouldn't be talking to me when I'm around people!"

"Who else am I gonna talk to?!"

"Excuse me." The woman in uniform says as she raises a hand to stop him from running any further. She has silver hair secured in a bun on top of her head. Her skin is dark which brings out her blue eyes.

"Wow-wow-wee! Ooh! Mama mia! This pretty lady here is working hard to look for me? Man! It's official. I am, indeed, a ladies' man. Why won't you go on ahead and give her my number."

Keith rolls his eyes while crossing his arms.

"Oh, are you jealous? Don't want anyone else go on all over me?"

"How did you get in here?" The woman says with a thick british accent upon her lips. "Didn't you know that a teenager has already been lost in these areas? And now you're just running around here?! This is truly unacceptable."

"Of course I know that someone is missing in these areas. I'm one of his friends."

"What?"

"Yeah, so are we." Pidge says as they and Hunk approache the two of them. "We came here to pay our respect to our desceased friend. Maybe we can find his body aswell."

"Wait, deceased? Body? What on earth are you talking about?"

Keith was about to open his mouth when suddenly, the walkie-talkie attached to the woman's belt came to life.

"Allura? This is Coran. I've let in four people. Three of which are teenagers and one of which I assume their father."

Keith, Hunk and Pidge, aswell as Lance, bursts out laughing.

The woman—who they now know is Allura—grabs the walkie-talkie and brings it up to her mouth to speak. "So I've seen. Coran, what are they talking about a dead body? They say that they are the missing boy's friends. Is this true?"

"As they've told me. And it appears that. . .the boy you were looking for may be. . .unfortunately, dead."

She puts her hand down and shakes her head. "I failed then."

"Not really." Shiro says as he stands beside Keith. "We all thought he was alive. It turns out that he was already dead before the school even reported to the police that he was missing."

Allura lifts her head up and that's when Shiro's face turns red all over. His eyes widens and his cheeks flush into a brighter shade if red.

"Ooh, looks like your daddy has been shot with an arrow by stupid-cupid with this woman. I'm raging with jealousy." Lance says in a teasing voice.

"He is not my daddy. Please don't call him that again."

"How did you know he is indeed deceased? Where are the police to search through the forest? They left this operation months ago, but I never stopped. Can't they, at least for once, lend a hand on this one?"

"Uuhh. . .uh. . .t-they're uh. . ." Shiro becomes a blushing mess now that he is making direct eye contact with the pretty woman. Keith rolls his eyes.and nudges Shiro to his side with his elbow. "Uh, yes. Uh. . ."

Allura's brows pinch together.

"The police have their heads in the investigations regarding the person who is responsible for Lance's death. Like we said, we just wish to pay our respect and to hopefully, find his body." Pidge explains, hands in pockets.

"I'm. . .sorry for your loss. I did what I could to find him, but I'd never thought that he'd be dead."

"Neither did we." Hunk says. "If it weren't for Keith's brave actions, we wouldn't have known. We'd like to thank you for your efforts and for your concern, Ms. Allura."

"Please, just call me Allura."

"I'm Hunk."

"Keith."

"I'm Pidge."

"The name's Lance." The ghost purs.

"I'm Shiro." He extends a hand, and with a little hesitation, she accepts it.

"Nice to meet you. I can tell that you've raised such lovely and friendly children."

Shiro suddenly pulls his hand back in an abrupt move. "What?! They're not my children! What?! What?!"

The teens laugh.

"Then who are you then?"

"I'm a friend of Keith. We treat each other like brothers. I came to watch after them. After all, I don't want any of them to be in any harm or danger. Especially knowing that their friend is. . .gone."

"That's very. . .sweet of you."

Shiro blushed making the four groan.

"Which reminds me, how did you find out that the missing boy is dead?"

"Here's what happened." Keith explained the whole thing to her, right from where he asked Hunk and Pidge why he doesn't see Lance around anymore. After he's done, Allura's expression is caught in between rage and sorrow.

"I'm very sorry to hear such a terrible incident. I'd be happy to assist you in searching for his body. For now, I think it's a good idea for all of you to rest. It is almost sun down. Come, I will show you to your cabins."

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- 

"I will kill you if you don't look away this time."

"Can't. I'm already dead."

Keith groans as he removes his black shirt, revealing his black binder. He rubs his face against his fingerless gloves as he takes a seat beside the edge of the bed.

"I remember my experience from the camping trip." The short boy smiles at nowhere in particular. "It sucks, but atleast I met a friend here."

"Oh, you mean Becka? Because of her, you're in much more danger to Andrew."

"Not anymore. Plus, I'm glad she stood brave and broke up with him. I knew for certain anyone who'd go out with Andrew would be in a toxic relationship."

"Yeah. . .can you please change your clothes now? You're like, revealing too much skin."

"I thought I told you to look away?"

"But we're having a conversation!"

"Excuses, excuses. You just wanna see me with no shirt on."

"Uh, over my dead body!"

"Hmm. Pun intended?"

"Pun intended."

Keith chuckles, then stands up to draw the curtains to make the room more dim than it already is since it is night time. His only source of light is the bonfire from outside, where the others are heating up food for dinner. 

"Plus, I already saw you naked once."

"Oh, you'll never forget it?"

"Stop man. Just. Stahp."

The short boy sits back down on the bed and finally takes his binder off. He puts his shirt back on and lies back on his bed.  
He puts out his phone to see what time it is.

"6:15 pm." He squints his eyes against the bright light. "Too bad there's no signal here. I can't check my facebook."

"Boohoo."

"Hey, Keith!?" Hunk shouts from outside. "Dinner's ready! It's my special cooking! Even though it's just. . .from a can. . .but still!"

"I'll be right out."

Just when he was about to put his phone away, he notice that a message was sent to him earlier ago, when they were still in Shiro's car and are still in the city's range. He furrows his brows as he stands up and walks towards the door. Keith opens the message and as he reads it, his heart stops beating and he forgets how to breathe.

 

10:42 am

Aunt Flora:

Camille, your mother is having seizures. I need you to go here, it's urgent.

 

10:53 am

Aunt Flora:

Camille, where are you?

 

11:07 am

Aunt Flora:

Child, where on earth are you?

 

 

11:23 am

Aunt Flora:

At exactly on 11:15 am, your mother has passed away. You should come over here.

 

11:43 am

I swear Camille. Where in the heavens are you?!

 

 

His phone slips from his trembling hand and it hits the ground.

"Keith? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Lance says with a nervous laugh. "Seriously, you look pale. What's going on?"

The short boy leans his back against the door with wide eyes and his mouth ajar. His heart beat is going fast and it's thumping against his chest so hard that it just might jump out. He can't breathe properly with the dread all over his chest, suffocating him and killing him slowly. He feels like he's stuck under water, especially now that he's feeling light headed and naseous. The feeling is so overwhelming that he slides down to the floor.

"Oh, shit." Lance mutters. "Uh, Keith? Everything is gonna be okay, hm? Calm down and listen to the sound of my voice. Everything's alright, everything's okay. Nod once if you understand."

After a few seconds, he nods slowly.

"Uh, okay, okay, good. Now, I want you to focus on your breathing. Do as I say, inhale," Lance breathes in, "exhale." He breathes out.

Keith tries to, but he just goes back to panting. "I-I can't. . .I. . .I can't. . ."

"Yes you can, Keith. Everything will be okay. Just calm down and know that it's gonna be alright. Just breathe with me."

Lance does the same thing and Keith tries to follow his example. The latter closes his eyes and listens to Lance's slow and calm breathing, then tries to mimic it. Eventually, his breathing pattern goes back to normal and he feels incredibly exhausted.

"There. Are you okay?"

Keith shakes his head slowly.

"Just rest for a bit. Clear your head and try not to think much about whatever it is thst set you off. Nod once if you understand."

He half nods. The short boy's face has a blank expression all over it, eyes staring at the ground. Suddenly, his eyes water up and a tear rolls down on his cheek. He sobs into his hand, willing to be quiet.

"Oh, Keith. . ." Lance says under his breath, pain heard from his voice.

"Oh, KEEEIIITTTHH!!~" Hunk sings from behind the door, with a knock to accompany with it. "Dinner's running cold. Don't make the food wait."

"Keith, tell him that you'll skip out on dinner. I think you need time to compose yourself."

He wipes his tears away with the back of his hand. "No, I came here to fulfill my promise to you, therefore fulfulling that to them aswell. If they see me like this, things will get worse for them. No matter what happens, I gotta stay strong. For them, for. . .mom."

"But, you need a time out."

"They'll think something is wrong."

"Something is wrong. Look, I won't fight you on this. Tell Hunk to just bring the food here."

"No."

"Keith."

"Keith?" He knocks. "Is someone in there with you?"

 

A pause, then the short boy opens the door with a smile on his face. "Good evening, Hunk. Nah, it's just me in here. Why'd you ask?"

"I uh. . .not sure either. Maybe I was just hearing voices."

"Aren't we all? C'mon, let's go eat the food you've prepared."  
He closes the door behind him, leaving his phone still on the floor.

"It's just really canned food. Maybe we can catch fresh fish tomorrow morning so I could apply my 'chef skills' on it. That would be so cool."

"I don't think we packed any ingerdients for preparing real food, Hunk."

"Guess again, Keith. I came prepared."

"Ooh, I can't wait."

They walk towards the bonfire where Pidge, Shiro, Coran and Allura are seated on logs around it. As they get closer, Shiro looks up at him with a smile. It suddenly faded as he sees the look on his face.

"Keith, are you okay?"

Now everyone is staring at him.

 

Great.

 

"Keith, just take your food and go back to your cabin. Please, I'm begging you—"

"Uh, duh? Why wouldn't I be? I mean, well, the insects are such a nuisance. Other than that, I'm good. Why'd you ask?"

"Well, it's just, you seem kinda bit. . .bothered?"

Pidge raises an eyebrow. "Who wouldn't be? After all, we're here for a dead friend." A pause, then. "Oh. . .sorry, Shiro. I didn't mean to—"

"It's alright. Loosing someone is really tough. Believe me, I know what it's like."

Keith looks away.

"Alright, campers! Let's lighten the mood!" Coran beams a little too loudly. "I know things seem a bit depressing, but that doesn't mean we have to be depressed! I think that's what your friend would want, hm? For all of you to be happy? Now, let's say we put a smile on those faces, now."

"What do you have in mind?" Hunk asks.

"Oh, no." Allura blurts. "Please don't ask him that."

"I thought you'd never ask!" Out of nowhere, Coran pulls out a ukelele and starts strumming it in a happy tune.

"What. The. Fuck." Lance mutters.

Allura groans and shoves a spoonfull of beans into her mouth. Hunk and Shiro just gives him a small smile while Pidge covers her ears. Keith just shakes his head and sighs.  
The short boy sits between Hunk and Pidge as Shiro passed him a can of beans. He takes it gratefully, then quietly consumes it.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

"Funny," Lance starts. "I was sitting at the exact same spot the night I died. I was thinking about my family back home, waiting for me to come back from camp. Looks like I never did."

Keith doesn't reply as he rests his chin on his folded arms. He was sitting on a log, not too far and not too close from the camp site. There, the boy blankly stares up at the moon with a ghost as his company.

"Are you. . .okay? What happened earlier? Your face was so intense."

". . .I. . .I. . .my worst nightmare came true."

"What is it? Tell me."

"My. . ." He sighs. "My mother died and I wasn't aware. . .I wasn't there for her." 

"Oh my goddess, Keith. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, there's nothing I could do about it now. I'm sure Aunt Flora will abandon me now that mother is gone. I hope I could atleast graduate high school."

"I'm really sorry for what's happening to you. You can always turn back on this operation if you feel like it."

"Are you insane in the fucking membrane? I'm already here, there's no way I'm backing out, not now, not ever. I already dragged Hunk, Pidge and Shiro into this. The best thing I can do now is to finish this and fulfill my promise to you. Besides, no matter what shit was going down in your life, you still chose to risk your life to protect me from douche-face Andrew. I'm just trying to get even with you."

"Your. . .your situation is different, Keith. You just lost someone you love."

"Yeah, no shit."

 

"Keith."

 

The aforementioned boy rolls his eyes at the voice. He looks over his shoulder and ,of course, he sees Shiro standing there.

"Is there something I could help you with?" 

"Uh, nothing. I just wanted to see if you're okay."

Keith stands up and crosses his arms. "Well, I'm fine."

"I was actually looking for you."

"For what?"

"I want to talk."

"Last time you said that, things didn't go out too well."

"Please, Keith. I want to help you."

"I know. You already helped me in many more ways on this mission. I can't thank you enough for—"

"I wasn't talking about helping you on the mission."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"Like I said, I was looking for you. I thought I'd go to your cabin to see if you were there and I found. . .your phone."

Keith drops his hands to his side. "Shiro, you mean well, but I don't need this right now."

"You don't have to shut yourself out. I know you're upset but—"

"Upset?!" Keith snaps. "I'm fucking angry, Shiro! Both of my parents are gone, and friend is aswell, and I don't even know what I'm gonna do with my life anymore, okay? So please. Just let me rest. I'll be fine in the morning."

Shiro furrows his brows in concern. "You're right. I'm sorry, you should rest. But remember, I'm always here for you."

Keith nods before going back to his cabin and settles in for the night.


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh my gosh!" Pidge says as they flail their hands in the air, willing herself not to fall into water. "You guys weren't joking when you said that we were going to catch fish. And we're gonna do it with our own bare hands!"

"Well, we are fresh out in the open. Might aswell eat fresh food nature has to offer us, right?" Shiro says as he rolls his sleeves up higher to his elbows.

Allura's lips curves into a smile. "Ah, that's a nice way to look at things. Maybe canned beans aren't enough for your one day trip, hm?"

"Canned beans are good." Hunk says as he plunges both of his hands into the water to try and catch a fish. He fails. "But I thought, well, since it's our first time going out together from the city, might as well have a quality fishing and bonfire time with great food or something like that."

"You guys do know the reason why we're here, right? This isn't some camping trip we planned so we can have fun. No. We're on a mission to find Lance, remember?" Pidge says, arms crossed against their chest.

Hunk, Allura and Shiro share a look to one another before Shiro speaks. "We know. We can't ever forget. Just. . .trying to lighten up the mood. As Coran had said, the ones we lost wouldn't want us to be sad or be miserable because of their absence, they want us to be happy. It all comes down to one's perspective."

"I bet Keith would've said the same thing." Pidge suddenly stumbles. After several useless hand flailings in attempt to stand up straight, they fall into the water.

Shiro approaches them to help while Hunk laugh into his hand.

Allura's brows pinch together. "Speaking of which, where is your friend?"

"Maybe he's with Coran?" Hunk suggests.

"In the guard post? I doubt someone like him would go there. Especially when he seems to be bitter around people like Coran. No offense."

Shiro shrugs his shoulders. "Non-taken. He's been struggling through a lot lately that's why he always tend to come off as 'grumpy pants' or some sort."

Pidge snorts, "Mostly around you."

"Mostly around me."

"And grumpy pants?" Allura giggles, making Shiro blush.

"Uh, I just made it up, ehe."

"Uh, guys? Hello? Fishing? Help?" Hunk says as he holds on tightly onto a fish wiggling in his hands. "But seriously though, where is Keith? He should help us here. This little ones are very tricky." 

"He might be just cooling off somewhere." Pidge says as they squeeze the water out of their shirt.

"I'll go and look for him." 

"Oh, great. You're leaving too, Shiro? How are our chances of getting enough fish to eat get high?" Hunk says right before the fish in his hands slip out of his grip and back into the water.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -

". . .Then put the one in your right to the one in your left. Tie it together. . .no, a little bit—yeah, there." The ghost says. "You're done! You just made your very own flower crown."

Keith flips the flower crown over and examines it. "Uh, the flowers look terrible. I'm not. . . very good at this."

"Don't be silly! The flowers look fine. Sure, most of its petals came off, but that's okay. Plus, it's your first time, and you did great."

"You're just trying to make me feel better. Stop lying." Keith tosses the flower crown aside on the green grass beside where he sits. He leans his back against the tree behind him. "I keep messing everthing up. Why can't I do anything right?"

"Keith, what are you talking about? You have done everything right. You got Andrew, helped Becka break up with him, you're helping Hunk and Pidge—"

"And I traumatized them and got Shiro into this. They don't deserve to go through all that. And Shiro's just trying to help me, but I repay him by shouting and talking back to him because I'm an idiot. I'm lucky that I even have him." He brings his knees up and brings his arms around them. "Especially. . .especially now when mom is. . .mom is. . ."

"Ssshhh. . .Keith, you're doing fine. Don't overthink. It's all in your head, okay? For now, just relax and take in the beautiful nature around us. The sun light, the grass, the birds, the trees. . .not that cramped apartment of yours where it's too freaking dark. You know, emo and all that?"

"Keep trying." Keith smirks.

"C'mon, let yourself rest. It's been a tough week. Isn't it a perfect place to be?"

". . .especially when you're here with me. . ." He makes a sad smile, making Lance go quiet. After a while, the ghost clears his throat then speaks again.

"Uuhh. . .why won't you try the flower crown on?"

"You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm not. You did made it after all with my special instructing skills." Keith imagines a big grin plastered on Lance's face, making him chuckle.

"You're ridiculous. There's no way I'm gonna wear that. "

"Oh, come on! Don't let the red roses you picked go to waste. Plus, I think red looks great on you."

"Oh, so you're that desperate to make me wear it only so you could make fun of me wearing my horrible creation afterwards?"

"Just try it out, Keith."

"No way, Lance."

"Keith."

"Lance."

"Dude."

"Ghost."

Lance scoffs, as if offended, making the short boy chuckle. 

"Alright, alright. I'll try it out." He reaches out for the flower crown and with a little hesitation, he squeezes his eyes shut then puts it slowly on top of his head as if it pains him. The short boy drops his hands to his lap as he waits for a response. He opens one eye to peek—as if he can ever see Lance—when no immediate response came.

"S-so. . .uh. . .how do I look? Ridiculous?"

The ghost speaks, as if his breath's taken away. ". . ,You look beautiful. . ."

"Hhhmmph!!" Keith buries his flushed face into his hands. "You're saying that because you know it'll make me blush—which I am not blushing right now!! No!!"

"I-I'm serious, Keith. You're beautiful."

The short boy slowly puts his hands down. His eyes darts from left to right, not knowing where to look with the blush that has crept on his face. His hands fidgeted with the ends of his peach sweater, unable to DIGEST the rioting butterflies in his stomach. 

"Really, Keith. I'm serious. . .You're so beautiful that. . .that I can't explain it. It's. . .foreign."

The short boy feels a cold presence on his right cheek. He bites his lower lip at this.

"You know Keith, maybe in an alternate reality, you were my guardian angel."

He snorts."Shouldn't it be the other way around? You were really the one who risked your life for mine, and now you're guiding me through it. You're the real guardian angel."

"Ironic, because I was the one who brought you into this mess in the first place. I just wish that in another world, in another dimension, or whatever the fuck the universe has, we would be together in better ways than this. And I'd refuse a single reality where I hated you. But I really hope that there is a world where everything seems. . .fair."

"Life is never fair and this is proof." Keith drops his eyes to stare at his hands on his lap. "But atleast we can some how make it bearable."

". . .How?"

"By. . .by staying." The cold presence disappears from his cheek.

"Keith."

"Lance, please stay. I need you."

"We talked about this."

"I know, but you're the only one who can keep me sane through all of this."

"You were fine without me—"

"Lance, you said it yourself that you regretted living life without me in it. Maybe this is your chance to. Maybe this is fate, destiny."

"Keith, I can't—"

His eyes starts to tear up. "Don't you remember last night? You helped me with my panic attack and you hummed me to sleep. Lance, I need you in my life, I know it."

"Please, I really can't—"

"Lance, please, stay. I—"

"Keith!" The ghost snaps, surprising the short boy. "Stop it! Stop it, okay?! You're making feel really bad! Oh my goddess, I wish I could kiss you right now just so you could stop talking!"

"Then go!"

"What?"

"Then go! Kiss me!"

Keith feels cold air pressure press against both sides of his face, then he feels another one against his lips. He closes his eyes through all of it. The short boy tilts his head a little, but he felt the other—supposedly Lance's hand—evaporate. He must've went through him but that didn't stop the kiss. Suddenly, it was over.

"Lance. . ." Keith says under his breath, eyes still closed.

"Keith. . .I—"

"Keith."

He opens his eyes then lifts his head up and to see Shiro gazing down on him with a sad look on his face. The short boy raises both if his eyebrows up at the older man.

"Yes, Shiro?" 

"Uhm, we were just wondering where you were. You didn't joined us in fishing which is what I was doing earlier. . .I understand why you didn't. You need space, I know. But. . .I heard you say Lance's name."

"Uh. . ." Keith blushed.

"Thinking about him?"

He nods his head with wide eyes.

"Okay. . .I hope you're alright. Just remember what I said thst I'm always here for you. By the way, the flower crown suits you." 

Keith instinctively reach up to his head to touch one of the red roses on the flower crown. He forgot he was even wearing it. The blush on his face burned brighter.

"T-thanks. . .? I, uh, just made it."

"That's nice. It's great to know that you're doing something positive out of all the crazy stuff that has happened. So, are you good to help us out, or do you need some more time alone?"

"I'm. . .I'm never alone." He whispers to himself with a small smile.

"Hm? What?"

"I mean, I'm good. I can help out. Not when I'm wearing this though." Keith removes the flower crown from his head and held it in his hand as he stands up.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. If I don't, Hunk might get mad and put shit into my food."

Shiro laughs, "He wouldn't do that."

"I know."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"This forest is creepy and pretty at the same time." Hunk says as he leans towards a tree as he carefully steps down from a hill. "All of this walking is making me hungry. I already miss the fish I cooked."

"Hunk, will you stop whinning?! Can't you see we're trying to find Lance?" Pidge snaps.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so noisy. I'm just nervous about all of this, you know?"

"I know, but we have to do this. I don't know what else we can do if we don't."

"So, how long have you been here?" Shiro asks as he jumps from a rock down to the ground next to Allura. They start walking forward. "You said you haven't stopped searching for Lance?"

She nods. "I never did. I've been here since after their camping trip and their teacher reported the matter to me. I've been looking for him and my other units, but we focused on nearby towns, hoping he might've ended up there. Little did I know the poor boy is dead."

"Where are the others?"

"When the police gave up, they went back to their bases aswell. They said that they'd keep an eye out for him. . .liars."

"I'm sorry. We're really grateful for all the help you've contributed."

"I didn't do anything."

"You dedicated your time and efforts in searching for a lost friend of Keith's and the others. That, I am thankful."

Allura smiles, but it quickly faded when the two of them looked at what's ahead of them. It was Keith, his back turned to them while carefully sliding down a hill with both of his arms out at his sides. They can see him smiling and his mouth moving, as if he is talking.

"Speaking of, I've noticed strange things about him."

"What. . .what kind of strange things?" They stopped walking.

"I was doing a perimeter check last night after dinner when I saw him sitting on a log not far away from camp. I heard him talking. . ."

"About what?"

"I. . .I know it wasn't my place to be in the moment, but I heard him talking to himself about someone named Aunt Flora. He also said that his mother. . .passed away. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. He just needs space. What else have you heard?"

"Something about keeping a promise and can't back away now. It's all in bits and pieces. I didn't get to hear much. What do you think he meant?"

"I'm not sure."

"Don't you think he has a little. . .problem?"

"Keith wasn't usually a troubled teen, but this week, he's changed so much. Maybe all of this is just overwhelming him to the point where he talks to himself to make him feel better."

"He can always talk to one of his friends, or to you."

"I told him that, but he chose to shut himself out from everyone else."

"Shiro, I think he needs help. Maybe his mental health is a little troubling."

"I. . .I'll talk to him about it. Should he start going on therapy sessions?"

"I think it's for the best. Help is better earlier than later."

"He's not gonna be happy about that."

Allura smirks, "Oh, I'm sure you can convince him. Surely all those muscles of yours have secret special powers to attract others."

Shiro smiles and raises an eyebrow. "Is it working?"

"Spendidly." She winks then they start walking again, following the short boy up ahead.

"Which way now?" Keith slides down from a hill and wipes the sweat off his forehead. "Who knew you've ran so far."

"Keith. . .it's literally a few walks away before the edge that I fell off into. You're just stalling time."

". . .which way?"

"Keith, are you still gonna stall time?"

"Which way?"

Sigh. "Go to your left and walk a little further. The edge will be there."

Keith goes to his right.

"Keith, stop stalling. Can't we just get this over with?"

"I can't. I'm nervous. Give me time."

"Dude, come on."

"Lance, everything is going too fast for me. Next thing I know, you're gone. I can't handle that."

"Keith, you know I won't leave immediately. I have to attend my funeral." Lance chuckles at this. "That sounds so weird when I say that out loud."

"Damn it, Lance."

"Damn it, Keith. Please, when we find my body, you and I can go home and we'll talk, we'll talk in Shiro's room like we used to, okay?"

Keith stops walking. "Lance. . .I—"

"Keith, please. Go left."

He obeys with his brows pinched together. With skeptic looks, the rest of them follows his lead. Pidge's eyes widens when Keith stopped at the edge.

"Keith? Is this a dead end?" They asked.

Hunk quirks an eyebrow. "How do you even know where yoi're going?"

"Maybe we shouldn't have let him lead the way." Allura whispers to Shiro, who just stares at the short boy.

Suddenly, Keith falls to his knees and covers his face. Pidge moves forward beside him to look at the edge, only to fall back to the ground at what they saw. They covered their nose at the foul smell.

"Guys? What's. ..?" Hunk looks over the edge beside them and he visibly paled. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. . ." He vomits to the side.

Pidge starts to weep. "Lance! Lance! Dear god, Lance. . ."

Shiro and Allura share a look before stepping forward and looking over the edge aswell. They were met with a foul smell.  
They see the corpse rotting and several flies swarm over it. Oddly, there wasn't much any worms to decompse the body.

"This is weird. It's been months and the corpse hasn't decomposed yet. How is this possible?" Allura asks.

"The body remains when the spirit still roams." Keith says weakly.

"Okay, I think it's time to get you guys out of here. Allura, can you contact Coran and the police? They have to retrieve the body."

"I'm on it." She grabs the walkie-talkie from her belt and walks away from they as she speaks into it.

"Guys, it's okay." Shiro says. "Calm down. I know this is too much for all of you—"

"Goddess, he's really dead." Hunk pants, wiping off the drool from his mouth as leans his head against the tree near the edge. "Goodness, he's really dead."

"Guys, just—"

"Shiro, Lance is gone, Lance is gone!" Pidge says.

"Guys, please. Let's step away fron the edge. Please."

"Lance." Pidge looks over the edge WAY too dangerously. "I'm sorry for what happened to you."

"Woah!" Keith grabs them by the shirt. "Pidge, you might fall."

"Keith, you guys have to leave. I can't bear to see them like this." The ghost says through sobs.

Shiro helps Pidge stand up from Keith's grip. The short boy stands up as well and helps Hunk. 

"Let's go back to camp." Keith says to Shiro, who nods.

"I've contacted them and they're on their way. Thankfully, there's a police department in a nearby town so they'll be here in a couple of minutes." Allura informs Shiro.

"Thank you, Allura. I have to take them back to camp first."

"That'll be for the best. Take care if them. I'll wait here for the police to arrive."

Shiro nods, then they left.


	15. Chapter 15

"Keith. . .please, say something."

The ghost says, but the short boy doesn't respond. He's busy fixing the colar of his suit. He moves onto putting his tie around his neck as he looks into the mirror. The short boy's hands stop moving as he stares at the person looking back at him. His skin was pale, his hair all messed up, his eyes has bags under them, his cheeks had lost their rosy color, and his mouth never curves into a smile. He looks awful.

"Keith, you look like you're attending your own funeral." 

". . .Well," He continues fixing his tie. "I guess I'll put that on the list of the funerals I'll have to attend to. After all, I have to attend my mother's a week later."

"My god, Keith."

"Funny that the first time I'll ever see your mother is at your funeral."

"Uhm. . .I know. She'll be thankful once she hears what you've done for me. You'll love her. She's very nice."

"No offense, but she just lost her son who she thought was still alive. Maybe she's not gonna be 'very nice' today."

"Why are you so snappy? This is the last day we'll ever be together."

"Bingo! You said it." Keith pulls onto his finished tie, then runs a hand through his hair. "I did everything for you and you're just gonna leave me like this?"

"You did everything for me because I have to leave. Did you forget that? You even called me asshole before."

"That was before I was blinded of the fact that I need you."

"Keith, stop! Stop it, please!"

The short boy grits his teeth and punches the mirror. "Lance! If you're gonna leave, then just go!"

"What?" 

"You heard me. If you're gonna leave, then just leave now! Go to the funeral without me. You're only following me around because I'm the only one that could help you, right? Now that I did, you can go. LEAVE."

"Keith, you're being ridiculous. Now you just broke your mirror and hurt yourself. You need to get that treated."

"What do you care anyway? You're just gonna go, you're just gonna leave me just like what mom and dad did."

"You're letting your emotions cloud your judgement. Calm down. I'm sure Shiro will be here to pick you up in any minute now. Get yourself together."

"Shut up! I don't need to hear this bullshit!"

"Keith, you better let me talk!"

"What are you even gonna say to make me feel better, huh? Unless you're gonna tell me a way out of this situation, hm? Do I just have to pinch myself to wake up from this nightmare? Or-or snap out of this day dream that I'm having in class? Tell me, Lance. I want to know. Tell me what's left of this stupid apartment of mine that is giving me the will to live. Maybe that's it, maybe I should just die."

"No, Keith! Don't you even think about ending your own life. You'll regret it."

"Why not? Better than to live this way. Death is inevitable. Dad died, mom died, and you died. It'll all go down to it anyway."

"And what will Shiro say? Are you just gonna let him feel bad about his life than he already is because of his sister? And Hunk and Pidge? They need you now more than ever."

Keith sighs then sits on the edge of his bed. He buries his face into his hands.

"I don't know. I can't. . .I can't think straight. I don't know what to do. . .how do I just, just move on from this like it never happened? Like it never mattered to me?"

"I don't know, but I know that you can. And you're not alone. Look at Pidge. Even when they learned that I was missing, did that stopped them from living?"

"That was before they found out that you were actually dead."

"They said that they knew I was dead when the waiting got longer, but did that stopped them from hanging out with their friends? I think not. Keith, you're not alone. You can get through this."

He rubs his face. "Hunk has been doing well, I guess?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"I-I'm sorry if I've been rough on you. I'm just. . . angry of how unfair this all is."

"Mmm."

"Lance, I. . .I love you. I just wanted you to know that."

"Keith. . ."

"I knew that I love you when we started talking together that night we first met. When you asked me if I get lonely. . .I knew there was a connection."

". . ."

"I'm sorry for everything bad I've said about you. Say hi for mom and dad for me by the time you. . .go. . ."

"Keith. . ,I lo—"

 

BEEP! BEEP!

 

Keith stands up and looks out the window to see a black car parked out of the aparment. He looks at the sky and noticed that it was cloudy and grey. Perfect day for mourning.

"Looks like that's Shiro."

"I'm glad you're going, Keith. It means a lot."

He doesn't say anything as he opens the door and steps out of his room.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The drive was silent. After they greeted each other, silence engulfed them from then and onwards. There wasn't really much to talk about in this somber day. Keith just silently watch as they pass the streets. He sees people smiling and laughing with their friends and family. He envies them. He'll never know if he can ever smile again.

"Keith. . ." Shiro suddenly speaks. "How are you feeling?"

". . .Dead."

"Uh, listen, I know you don't want to hear this right now—"

"Yes, Shiro. You're right. I don't want to hear it right now. I'll be fine, but thank you for asking."

The older man nods and doesn't say anything further.

"Uhm, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm living in a black and white movie. Everything's dark and colorless. But I know it'll all be well soon."

"I hope so. . ."

They arrive at the cementary. Shiro stops the car just near the gate. He puts a hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezes it, telling him that he can get through this, that everyone's proud of how brave he's been. Keith smiles, then gives Shiro a tight hug, much to the latter's surprise. Eventually, he hugs back.

"You must be Keith." A short and plum woman,with dark skin and brunette hair, approaches them as Shiro and Keith joins the visitors to witness Lance's funeral. "My name is Marie, Marie McClain." They shake hands. "I am Lance's mother and I can't thank you enough for what you did to find my baby Lance."

"It was my good intent for my friend, Mrs. McClain."

"Please, call me Marie. I consider you as family now for helping mine."

"Thank you. I'm very sorry for what happened to your son. I know what it's like to lose someone who's part of the family."

"It's nobody's fault except for that kid, Andrew. I'll never forgive him for what he did to my child. Lance can make mistakes some times, but I know he has his reasons."

"He actually risked his life to save mine."

"What do you mean?"

"If he hadn't pissed Andrew off that night at the camping trip, I wouldn't be here. I'm supposed to be the one in the casket, not him."

"My son. . ." She sobs then wipes her eyes with a handkerchief. "My son did good before he died. He is truly good. Oh, and I am thankful you are alive, Keith. Without you, my baby Lance wouldn't be here."

Lance starts to cry. "Mama, I love you so much."

Keith puts a hand on her shoulder, then she hugs him as she weeps.

"Marie," Keith says quietly. "Has Lance ever told you that he loved you?"

"N-not—" she sniffs, "—not as much as I'd like to hear."

"Well, I just wanted you to know that he does love you. Very much. He can't stop talking about you back in the days where we were hanging out together."

"Oh. . .I love him aswell, with all my heart." She breaks the embrace. 

"I'm sure he knows that, Marie."

"Thank you for telling me this, Keith. You, Hunk and Pidge are a blessing to this family. I can't thank you all enough."

Suddenly, Lance speaks against Keith's ear. "Thank you for everything, Keith. Thank you for telling me that you love me. Be happy and don't forget about me, okay? I promise I'd say hi to your parents. Take care of mother for me. And I love you too. More than you know."

Lance's voice faded as Keith's eyes widens.

"Are you okay, Keith? Do you not believe me when I say you three are part of this family from now on?"

"I-I. . ." Keith bursts into tears. "I just . . .I just can't believe that this all happening. Oh god, I can't help myself from-from-"

"Sshhh, shhh. It's okay, Keith." She hugs him and patted his back. "I understand how this is hard for you, too."

Keith gets out of her embrace. "I'm sorry, I just need to go somewhere for a bit. I promised that I'll be back soon."

"Keith—"

He runs out of the cementary and towards an empty lot just beside it. He trips and falls to the ground, ruining his suit with dirt.

"Lance?!" He shouts. "Lance, please say something."

 

Silence.

 

"Lance, please! Lance please, say something!"

 

Nothing.

 

 

He breaks down and cry, pressing his head against the ground as he puts an arm around his torso.

"Lance, please! Talk to me! Lance! Say a word! A hum! Anything! Please!"

"Keith!" Shiro shouts, then run towards the short boy. "Keith, everything's okay, everything's okay. Calm down, calm down." Shiro kneels beside him and hugs him as he weeps.

"Shiro," he says through sobs. "H-he's g-gone! H-he really left. .,.he really left, he really left me behind! Lance is gone!" He cries against the buff man's chest.

"Keith, it's okay. I'm here for you. Just let it all out. I'm here for you."

They stay like that for a long moment, with Keith crying into the man's chest as Lance's casket is being lowered down to the ground. And Keith has never felt alone before.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

"And that movie adaptation they did from that book was so terrible!" Pidge says as they tap into their laptop. "They didn't capture the ambience and the intelligence of the book and I hate it!"

"Dude, you are now a college student who's supposed to be worrying about projects. Instead, you're ranting about some horrible movie adaptation." Hunk says as he writes something down into his notebook.

"Hey! If you would've read the book just like I told you to, you'd understand what I'm talking about. And you're a college student as well, but you're still watching Spongebob Squarepants! Aswell as Keith!"

"Don't bring me into this!" Keith says with a smile from the counter of the Altean Café. He hands a coffee to a customer.  
"I'm lucky that Marie is paying for my college fee, but that doesn't mean I can't watch one of the classic cartoons."

"True that." Hunk agrees.

"Whatever." They roll their eyes. 

"Keith! What did I tell you about pushing yourself too hard?!" Shiro says from behind Keith. "You're shift's over an hour ago. You need to rest you little rascal."

Keith smiles then punches Shiro's shoulder. "You're the little rascal, old man. Your girlfriendd Allura, should know that aswel. Well, you caught me."

"Go home, Keith. You have school tomorrow and you therapy to attend to."

"Okay, DAD. I still hate you for getting me i to thst therapy shit."

"It's for your own good. You should go home. That goes the same for you two."

"Okay, DAD." Hunk and Pidge both says at the same time, then the three of them laughed.

"I told you to never call me that!"

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Keith opens the door to his dark bedroom. He immediately takes his shirt and binder off. Then, he takes a fresh shirt and puts it on. He throws himself on the bed, face first. He hugs his pillow as he looks around the dark and silent room.

 

 

". . .Lance?"

 

 

Silence.

 

 

"Are you there?"

 

 

Nothing.

 

 

He buries his face into his pillow and weeps.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Leave a comment on what you think. Every comment motivates me to keep writing! . Thanks for reading!
> 
> Update: That is the end of fic! Yey! I had a lot of fun writing this and also reading your comments. Thank you to each and everyone who had commented. It helped me not abandon this fic. I'll definitely miss writing about ghost Lance. I won't be writing for a long time after this since school is coming up and I gotta get my shit together. :-) But one shots are possible. I would love to hear what you think of the ending down at the comments! :-) Thanks so much for reading! <3
> 
>  
> 
> Another update: hit me up on tumblr: http://vinvictory.tumblr.com/


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